Wallingford Community Pool Opening   The days are getting longer, the kids will be out of school soon, and the temperatures are getting warmer and warmer. What better way to handle those three events than by taking a cooling dip in the community pool?   Wallingford’s Community Pool will open initially on the weekend of June 15-16th from 10am to 6pm each day. The pool will then close for a week and reopen for the season on June 22nd and close on August 18th.   Pool passes for adults are $15, $5 for children under 12 and also for seniors 63 and older. Passes can be purchased at the Wallingford Parks and Recreation Department located at 6 Fairfield Boulevard. Their office hours are 8am to 7pm and Saturday 8am to 12:30pm. Proof of residency – driver’s license, tax bill, report card or schoo... 06/13/2013

New Listing in Wallingford CT, 301 Washington St, Zip code 06492 MLS# N338151, Listed at $226,500   A wonderful opportunity to buy a colonial, built in 2006 with energy saving construction throughout. Home features 3 bedrooms, with bath facilities on first and second floor. Large,modern eating space kitchen with light oak cabinets and granite style counter-tops. Dishwasher, refrigerator and stove all newer. Formal dining area, that opens up to the living roomMaster bedroom with large closets and sitting/exercise areaSecond and third bedrooms both with spacious closets. Semi wrap around front porch, for leisurely sitting on a summer's evening.   Large back yard area ideal for kids to play with space for garages, pool, etc. Full details can be seen at 301 Washington St   New Listing in Wa... 06/08/2013

Wallingford CT Market Update for April 2013   Heres whats happening in the Wallingford CT housing market as of April 30, 2013: There are currently 171 single family homes for sale in Wallingford: Low list price: $19,000 High list price: $1,350,000 Average list price: $348,092 Median list price: $325,900 Average Days on Market: 95 Homes sold on average for 100.0% of list price There are 71 homes currently under contract, priced between $95,000 and $699,000. Based on the number of homes sold in April (24), it would take approximately 7 months to sell the current inventory. As for condominiums, there are currently 70 condos for sale: Low list price: $55,000 High list price: $529,574 Average list price: $248,029 Median list price: $233,600 Average Days on Market: 70 Condos sold on average ... 05/20/2013

Villa Capri Restaurant Hosts 2nd Annual Porky Pig Fest When: Wednesday, May 22nd 2013 Hours: 5:30PM to 7:30PM Where: Villa Capri, Wallingford CT Who: Everybody! Admission: $10 per person Who to Contact: Dee Babkirk-Rodrigues, idee.networks@gmail.com or (860) 919-9087 On May 22nd from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, four popular local restaurants from Wallingford and Meriden will come together and battle it out to see who can devise the best pork based specialty in the land, from pulled pork to ribs and everything in between! Here is a list of the entrants for the event so far: Knuckleheads LaPerla Restaurant Riccio's Redwood Grille Tata's Caribbean Cuisine Pig Rig BBQ (formerly Big Country BBQ) Attendees and a panel of elite judges will deliberate over all the piggish fixings and squeal with delight ... 05/16/2013

First Annual Wallingford CT Restaurant Hop When: May 15, 2013 Hours: 4 PM – 9PM Where: Downtown Wallingford CT Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 that evening, $10 kids under 12 Who to Contact: Wallingford Center, Inc, (203) 284-1807 or email lizlandow@wallingfordcenterinc.com Tickets can also be purchased at these local businesses: Gaetano’s Tavern on Main Craig Jewelers Yankee Cloth Elite Creations Wallingford Lamp & Shade AJ Canelli Jewelers Serenity Salon & Day Spa Panacea Boutique Spanish Community of Wallingford If you’ve ever wondered what the food at some of Wallingford’s downtown restaurants is like, now is the time to find out! Wallingford Center, Inc. is sponsoring the first annual Wallingford Restaurant Hop on May 15th from 4pm to 9pm. Bring the whole family and sample the special... 05/10/2013

  Sunday, May 5th Choate Rosemary High School, in Wallingford, CT will be hosting the Wallingford, CT Walk For Autism 2013.  Many of the members at my church, The Ward Street Church of Christ, will be participating again this year in support of one of our members niece's, Katie, who has Autism.  Katie is the young girl in the lower left of the picture above. This is the type of event that the whole community as well as others can get behind.  We will not only be participating as a Church, but as a family activity as well. If you have never participate in one of these events, this one may be the perfect one  to start, and help raise money for a very worth cause.   *******************************************************************************  Info about the author: George Souto is a Lo... 04/30/2013

Wallingford CT Market Update for March 2013   Here's whats happening in the Wallingford CT housing market as of March 31, 2013: There are currently 161 single family homes for sale in Wallingford: Low list price: $19,000 High list price: $1,350,000 Average list price: $349,460 Median list price: $329,900 Average Days on Market: 118 Homes sold on average for 95.6% of list price There are 74 homes currently under contract, priced between $95,000 and $699,000. Based on the number of homes sold in March (20), it would take approximately 8 months to sell the current inventory. As for condominiums, there are currently 64 condos for sale: Low list price: $67,900 High list price: $529,574 Average list price: $244,129 Median list price: $224,900 Average Days on Market: 47 Condos sold on average... 04/24/2013

Wallingford's Annual Church of the Resurrection Carnival It’s carnival time again and, as usual, the fun begins with Wallingford’s Church of the Resurrection sponsoring their annual carnival in the parking lot adjacent to their church. This year the festivities run from April 24th through the 27th and promises to be better than ever! The venue will open nightly at 6pm and features a midway with more things to do than you can shake a stick at! Some of the fun to be had includes games of skill, chance and just plain ol' luck (NOTE: must be 18 years or older to play games of chance), rides for young and old including a ferris wheel, merry-go-round and roller coaster, and a Fun House. The first two days are usually themed as Italian Night on Wednesday, and Polish Night on Thursday. Some of ... 04/23/2013

Harriman Real Estate LLC Growing Again, Adds Karen Gryga Burdacki Wow, the past couple of weeks at Harriman Real Estate have been crazy! Not only has business gone through the roof, but we’ve also added a handful of new agents in a very short period of time, with experience levels ranging from brand new agents to agents with more than a decade of real estate under their belt. We’re always honored when an agent chooses to hang their license with us, and that trend continues with the addition of our newest agent, Karen Gryga Burdacki. Karen has been in real estate for two years, and a REALTOR® for only one, but the knowledge she has accumulated about the business, especially the transaction management side of it, is impressive and continues to grow. She came to us on the recommendation of... 04/21/2013

Carmen Chaparro Joins Harriman Real Estate LLC With the arrival of Spring, the real estate market has really picked up as buyers renew their home search and sellers spruce up their homes to get them on the market. With such a flurry of new business, it’s critical that we have the staff on hand to provide the premium service that Harriman Real Estate has become known for, and to that end we are especially happy to welcome another new agent to our family, Carmen Chaparro. Carmen has been a REALTOR® for over nine years and comes from a varied business background. After four years as an office manager, she spent 16 years as a Human Resources Director and now, in addition to her real estate career, she has also been an event director for the past 2 years. Carmen is a life-long resident of Me... 04/18/2013

Emilia Menna-Erdmann Joins Harriman Real Estate LLC It’s always a special occasion when you can welcome a new member to your family, whether it’s your personal family or your business family. We were lucky enough recently to have done both: we welcomed our eighth grandchild, Tristan Matthew Mix, and my wife Pat had a chance to visit the little tyke in Oklahoma for a few days after his arrival. We also are fortunate to have seen our fast-growing real estate family grow again with the addition of our newest agent, Emilia Menna-Erdmann. Emilia has been a REALTOR® for over ten years, and also has many years of experience in the fields of radio advertising, office management, and food services. She has served on both the Legislative and International committees with the Greater Hartford Boar... 04/08/2013

Wallingford Holiday Spring Fling 2013 When: Saturday, March 16th 2013 Hours: 10:00Am to 3:00PM Where: Zandri’s Stillwood Inn, 1074 S Colony Rd, Wallingford CT, Who: Open to everyone Cost: FREE! Contact: Joan Simpson, 860 597 4835, ThePumpkinRollLady@gmail.com If you’re looking for a great way to say welcome back to Spring, look no further than the Wallingford Holiday Spring Fling, a fun craft fair that has a little something for everyone! For the Kid In All of Us If you’re of the younger set (or just feel young at heart!), there will be lots to do, like getting your face painted, have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny, be amazed by the magic of Gary the Magic Guy, do some bouncing around with Bounce Bash, or check out Wolf Central to learn more about the wildlife around us, and v... 03/12/2013

Same Snow, Different Outlook So, here in Connecticut we got hit with about 6-7 inches of snow overnight, with a couple more projected before it all ends. Not exactly comparable to the 35 inches Blizzard Charlotte dropped on us last month, but since most of that snowfall had disappeared, and since Spring is just around the corner, this storm is not being particularly well received in these parts. And it’s interesting how one picture of the snow, taken out the window leading to our rear deck, can differ in the feelings it elicits in us from one taken a few seconds later out our front bay window. See what you think… I leave you with these two disparate thoughts: "Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity." --Novala Takemoto "A lot of p... 03/08/2013

Wallingford CT Market Update for February 2013   Heres whats happening in the Wallingford CT housing market as of February 28, 2013: There are currently 135 single family homes for sale in Wallingford: Low list price: $32,500 High list price: $1,350,000 Average list price: $352,091 Median list price: $329,900 Average Days on Market: 109 Homes sold on average for 96.1% of list price There are 72 homes currently under contract, priced between $95,000 and $700,000. Based on the number of homes sold in February (18), it would take approximately 8 months to sell the current inventory. As for condominiums, there are currently 61 condos for sale: Low list price: $45,000 High list price: $489,900 Average list price: $234,841 Median list price: $229,900 Average Days on Market: 179 Condos sold o... 03/07/2013

Oakdale Theater Hosts 14th Annual New Haven County Home Show Was your home impacted by either Hurricane Sandy or Blizzard Charlotte? Are you planning a new home DIY project? Or are you planning on building a home and need some ideas? Then we’ve got just the event you’re looking for! Taking place this weekend, February 23rd and 24th, at Wallingford’s Oakdale Theater, the 14th Annual New Haven County Home Show brings together a boatload of exhibitors offering everything from building and remodeling, home security, and water purification to solar power, pools and spas, and landscaping services, just to name a few. Just because it’s still Winter (like the piles of snow outside aren't enough of a reminder!), it doesn’t mean you have to wait until Spring to get out and get some ideas for your... 02/19/2013

Grand Opening: Hit or Miss Pawn & Exchange Where: 16B Center Street, Wallingford CT 06492 Hours: Mon 10am-2pm; Tue/Wed/Fri 10am-6pm; Thu 10am-7pm; Sat 9am-3pm; Sun CLOSED What: Pawn & Consignment Shop Contact: Kim Battista, 203-626-9770 A New Shop on the Block Hit or Miss Pawn & Exchange located at 16B Center Street, Wallingford held their Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting, February 7, 2013. Hit or Miss Pawn, owned by Northford resident Kimberly Battista, specializes in buying, selling and loans. Battista plans on running the business more like a consignment shop than a pawn shop. Customers can expect to see items like furniture, handbags and antiques alongside the more typical pawn items such as jewelry or tools. No matter what kind of items come through her shop though, Battista says her c... 02/17/2013

Message of Thanks from the Mercier Family Regular readers of this blog will remember my post from back in November of last year telling of the plight of the Mercier family. As a little background, John and Linda Mercier live in a home at the corner of South Elm Street and Pond Hill Road in Wallingford. They have a large fenced in yard where every Halloween and Christmas they put out a large assortment of decorations that are a source of surprise and delight to both young and old. This year they put out their Halloween decorations as usual, but during the process of taking them down John fell off a ladder, sustaining serious injuries to his face, eyes and arm that required surgery and many weeks of rehabilitative therapy. It is with great joy that I tell you that John has recently been r... 02/16/2013

Jim Brickman's 70's Party Coming to Oakdale Theater OK all you 70’s nuts, there’s a show coming up at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford that’s right up your alley! Tickets are now on sale for the Jim Brickman Celebration of the 70’s Show, coming up on March 2nd at 7:30PM. Pianist-songwriter Jim Brickman has been named the most charted male contemporary artist to date, with six of his albums achieving either Gold or Platinum status. He’s well-known for his collaborations with vocal artists such as Lady Antebellum, Michael W. Smith, Martina McBride, and Olivia Newton-John, and in this show he’ll team up with some of the biggest names of the 1970’s: David Cassidy Rita Coolidge Yvonne Elliman Steven Bishop Thelma Houston In addition, I hear that this show will be filmed for Xfinity On Dema... 02/15/2013

Snowbound Saturday: Buried in Connecticut! This is to show all my “warm weather” friends what you missed last night! Blizzard Charlotte left us with quite a mess to clean up. The pictures below show our three cars buried in about 4 –5 foot snow drifts, while the others show the actual depth of the snowfall, which was about 24 – 36 inches. It was easily the equal of the Blizzard of 1978. Now the challenge is going to be getting out of the house to go shovel and use the snow blower, because the snow is blocking our front door so it won’t open! 02/08/2013

Wallingford CT Market Update for January 2013   There are currently 131 single family homes for sale in Wallingford: Low list price: $32,500 High list price: $1,500,000 Average list price: $369,123 Median list price: $339,900 Average Days on Market: 109 Homes sold on average for 96.6% of list price There are 73 homes currently under contract, priced between $95,000 and $700,000. Based on the number of homes sold in January (25), it would take approximately 5 months to sell the current inventory. As for condominiums, there are currently 61 condos for sale: Low list price: $55,000 High list price: $489,900 Average list price: $222,731 Median list price: $205,000 Average Days on Market: 83 Condos sold on average for 95.9% of list price There are currently 17 condos under contract, priced ... 02/06/2013