Volume 4, Number 41
www.cheshirecitizen.com
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Ball & Socket receives state grant By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
People wait for the start of the fireworks show at Kurtz Farms in Cheshire on the Fourth of July. | Photos by Justin Weekes, Special to the Record-Journal
Public enjoys Independence Day fireworks show at Kurtz Farms By John Pettit Special to the Record-Journal
Progress on transforming the former Ball & Socket factory on West Main Street will get a boost from a $750,000 state grant to help turn the building into an arts and commercial center. The state Department of Economic and Community Development provided nearly $8 million in grants to towns and cities on June 30. Cheshire’s portion is for the continued environmental cleanup of the factory. Ball & Socket Arts members hope to open the complex in 2017 with retail stores, a cinema and lyceum, a music conservatory, art and photography galleries, art and music See Grant, A11
Larry and Cathy Sima docked their boat in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, Sunday night and watched what was believed to be Taylor Swift’s fireworks show. The pop princess has nothing on Kurtz Farms of Cheshire. “The Kurtz family fireworks are as good, if not better,” said Larry Sima, a Southington resident who owns Sima Drilling in Cheshire. While the Kurtz’s pyrotechnic show is private, it has become the hot spot for Cheshire residents to watch the bombs bursting in air. The Simas haven’t missed a show in over 20 years. See Fireworks, A9
Marge and Hugh Kurtz stand on their pool deck overlooking the family 4th of July party at their home in Cheshire on Monday during the Kurtz Family Fireworks Show for the Fourth of July at the Kurtz Farms in Cheshire.
Kevin Daly, of Cheshire, co-founder of Ball & Socket Arts, talks about ongoing renovations at the building on July 1. | Dave Zajac, Record-Journal