OneManchester

THE WALL THAT HEALS, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is in town through the weekend. Plus, it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, with a celebration scheduled for Saturday that will include live musical and cultural performances, a local food and vendor market and much more. Here's what you need to know:

Charter Oak Park is the temporary home of the monument bearing the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. The wall will be dissembled Sunday but til then people can pay their respects round the clock. Below: the view from the playground just after 7 last night:

Also:

• Flag-waving Bennet Academy students and staff stepped outside Tuesday morning when the Wall arrived in an 18-wheeler escorted by hundreds of public safety vehicles, motorcycles and more. Check out the scene.
• For more info including related events of interest click here.
  

This flier has the details about Saturday's happening, which is being held at 153-163 Spruce Street.

Also:

• There's more coming soon, including a Hispanic Latino/a/x/e Heritage Month Art Exhibit at WORK_SPACE that opens Sept. 27. We'll have more in upcoming editions of OneManchester.

• And in case you missed it, this video features a few of the many fascinating members of the local Hispanic community (including Jason Pepin, the district teacher of the year).
• To learn more about National Hispanic Heritage Month, click here.

It's billed as America's Premier Exposition and world's only multi-state fair, and on Monday the MHS Marching Band visited the Big E, which runs through Sept. 29 up in West Springfield.

The Board of Education's next meeting is Monday at Lincoln Center with a summer programing update on the agenda, followed on Oct. 10 by a meeting at Keeney Elementary.

Fatherhood Strategies Class:

• Dads and family men are invited to participate in an 8-week Fatherhood Strategies development course, starting Thursday, Sept. 26 at Verplanck Elementary. Dinner will be served, and child care is available. Learn how to engage, support, and raise successful children with expert guidance from Doug Edwards of Real Dads Forever. Click for more and to here is a quick vidclip from Doug himself.

CNA Certification Course

• Manchester Adult & Continuing Ed will be offering CNA certification course Manchester High starting Oct. 7. The classes meet on Mondays and Wednesday and the cost is well-below market value at $200 for current MA&CE students and $350 for for non-students. Click here for details.

Also:

• Boys and girls throughout the district are invited to a free day of activities, mentorship, medical exposure, and networking on Saturday, Nov. 9 (8 a.m. - 3 p.m.) in Waterbury. Click here for more information. (Students in grades 3 and up are eligible but this is an especially great opportunity for middle and high schoolers.)

• Bennet PTSA will hold a fundraiser at Sweet Frog at 1500 Pleasant Valley Rd on Sept. 24

• Suicide Prevention: The attached bulletins (in English and in Spanish) were developed through a collaborative effort among the Department of Children and Families, the Department Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Office of Child Advocate, the Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the Governor's Office. The content includes information on suicide, helpful tips to support people of all ages, and where to go for additional support and resources.
• COVID etc.: Students should stay home until they've been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours and symptoms have been improving for 24 hours. Mask-wearing for 5 days is optional upon their return to school.

Thursday, Sept. 19
9:30 - 10:15 a.m. -- Toddling Tots at Mary Cheney Library.
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. -- Steady Steps: Fall and Balance Prevention at Manchester Memorial Hospital.
5 -8 p.m. -- Off-Main Experience at 47 Purnell Place
6 p.m. -- Cub Scout Pack 47 sign ups at Concordia Lutheran Church.
6 p.m. -- Herbal Tea Blending Workshop at WORK_SPACE, 903 Main St.
6:30 p.m. -- An Evening with Vietnam Veteran Robert Jefferson at Whiton Library.
7- 9 p.m. -- The Listening Room / Open Mic at WORK_SPACE, 903 Main St. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.for sign-up)

Friday, Sept. 20
6 - 8 p.m. -- Family Fun Night at 153 Spruce St. All ages welcome.
7 p.m. -- The Ultimate Van Morrison Tribute at Cheney Hall.

Saturday, Sept. 21
8 a.m. - 1 p.m. -- Household Hazardous Waste collection at 321 Olcott St.
8 a.m. - noon -- MACC’s Farmers Market at Forest St. parking lot.
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. -- Traditional Asian Painting with Hyeonsu Kim at 595 Tolland Tpke.
11 a.m. - 3p.m. -- The Town of Manchester’s Hispanic Heritage Day Celebration at 153 & 163 Spruce St.

11 a.m. - 4 p.m. -- Community Unity Fall Festival at CCGC, 1075 Tolland Turnpike.
Noon - 4 p.m. -- Local Designers and Publishers Fair at Mary Cheney Library.
7 p.m. -- Cash Only: A Tribute to the Man in Black at Cheney Hall.

Sunday, Sept. 22
8:30 - 11 a.m. -- CPR & First Aid Courses at 75 Center St.
9 a.m. - 2 p.m. -- Train Show at the Elks Club, 30 Bissell St.
Noon - 2 p.m. -- Open house at Woodbridge Farmstead, 495 Middle Tpke East.
2 p.m. -- Rainy Day People: The Ultimate Gordon Lightfoot & Jim Croce Tribute.

Monday, Sept. 23
6:30 - 8 p.m. -- Papel Picardo Craft at Mary Cheney Library.
7 p.m. -- BoE meeting at Lincoln Center.
7 - 8 p.m. -- WWLM is accepting cans, bottles and all donations at the Donation Center, 11 Bissell St. (Donations can also be made M-Th, 10 a.m. - noon and 1 - 3:30 p.m.)

Wednesday, Sept. 25
4 - 7 p.m. -- Northwest Park Farmers Market,448 Tolland Tpke.
6 - 7:30 p.m. -- Self-Care Sound Bath Meditation at Whiton Library.

Nathan Hale Park: The town has scheduled a Nathan Hale Park Improvement Engagement Session for Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. at the Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street (across the street from Nathan Hale). This will include a guided tour of the Nathan Hale school grounds and the chance to learn about the community parks improvement plan for that area. Click for more.

Bike Friendly Campaign: Manchester has submitted an application to the League of American Bicyclists to potentially be recognized as a Bike Friendly Community and as part of the process is conducting a survey with results to be shared with town leadership. For more info click here.

From the YSB: The Youth Service Bureaus is offering lots of opportunities of note. He are some in-school programs (FACTS, Girl Circles and Voices) and a list of Fall and Winter programs (employment readiness, cooking, birdwatching and much more).

• Check out Park(ing) Day in front of WORK_SPACE on Saturday and Sunday. What’s Park(ing) Day? Click here to find out.

• Manchester Land Trust's Giant Tag Sale at 330 Bush Hill Rd. runs through Saturday.

• LabWorks for Teens is a no-cost after-school program offered to MHS students at Leisure Labs. Click here for more information.

• The Manchester Early Learning Center has before and after school programs and you can learn more by clicking here.

• Cheney Hall is offering a ‘Headshots for Actors’ fundraiser through Sept. 30. Click here for more info.

• Volunteers are needed for an Eastside Cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 28. Click here for more details.

• Also on Sept. 28, a Troop 27's can and bottle drive at Bennet Academy.

• MACC Charities presents ‘The Journey’ - a musical fundraiser on Oct. 4 and 5 at Bailey Auditorium.

• Rotary in Motion, an ‘All Abilities Community Outing’ returns to Charter Oak Park, on Oct. 5.

• The Elks Club is sponsoring an Americana Worksop for kids ages 2 -6 on Oct 5. Click here to learn more.

• Save the Date: The Sculpture Project’s House Tour will be on Saturday, Oct 26.

• Daylight Savings ends at 2 a.m. on Nov. 3.

The MHS football team held off Danbury's fourth quarter comeback bid to win its season and home opener 28-22 Friday and will host Hall tomorrow night in a non-league game starting at 6 p.m.

Click here for more pictures from the game and here for the complete MHS fall schedule.

Online registration for the 88th Manchester Road Race is under way. The entry fee is $32 for runners who sign up on-line prior to 12 midnight EST on Oct. 1. The entry fee increases thereafter to $37 on Oct. 1 and to $42 on Nov. 23. Click here for registration information.

Soccer Notes:

• The MHS soccer teams have a mums fundraiser going on at Woodland Gardens through Oct. 5. Click here for details.
• The teams are also selling tickets to the UCONN Men's soccer game on Sunday, Saturday, Oct. 12. Here is the link to purchase: UCONN Soccer Tickets

Also:

• Tylon Smith's fall basketball preseason skill training is happening at Illing Middle School on Mondays and Wednesdays. Click here for info.
• Manchester Travel Basketball will be sponsoring basketball clinics for boys and girls in grades 4 -8 on Fridays at Bennet Academy starting Sept. 20. Click here for more details.
• The Manchester Knights are offering flag football for 4 -5 year-olds at Martin School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Click here for details.

After remarks from Superintendent Matt Geary, Tracy Patterson of the BoE, building committee chair Brian Murphy and others, Mayor Jay Moran did the honors Saturday morning at the Keeney Elementary ribbon cutting ceremony.

DON'T FORGET THE ANNEX: This is our spillover space to other newsletters, social media accounts and more, including the 'OneManchester Planner', which has even has more calendar listings for the months ahead. Plus we share a special flashback photo from Paul Ofria each week. To get to The Annex, click here.

• NOTE: OneManchester is compiled by the school district's communications office but is dependent on contributions from people and institutions throughout the town and school district. So if you have something that you think people would want to know about, please let us know. Photos, fliers, links, tips, whatever -- please share with Paul Ofria at pofria@mpspride.org.