The Wadsworth Mansion will host their annual spring event: Daffodil Day on Sunday, April 23rd, 2023 from 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate, 421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown. This family event will be held rain or shine and is FREE TO THE PUBLIC, although donations are welcome and appreciated.

In the front of the Mansion circle Cake, Batter, and Roll, Franks Woodfired Pizza Truck, and Skyscraper Sandwich Truck will tantalize visitors with delicious food sold from their food trucks. Inside the Mansion, The New England Coffee Guy will be providing providing high quality/locally roasted coffee of various types. Bring your appetite and grab a bite!

From 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM enjoy live music with Cash Lane Slim, songsmith and guitar master takes you on a trip through the heart of Americana with a blend of folk, rock, blues and ballad; an energizing mix of originals and standards with his unique interpretation and voice. His solo acoustic hybrid performance is a dynamic reinvention of the genre; building layers of voice and instrument live on stage.

Everyone Outside (www.EveryoneOutside.org) staff will offer a nature exploration at the vernal pool located on the east side of the mansion to show the amazing creatures found in vernal pools at this time of year including frogs, salamander eggs, tadpoles, insect larvae, and more! Viewing scopes will be available. Come visit the vernal pool any time between 12:00 and 3:30 PM.

At 1:30pm we are excited to welcome A Place Called Hope, a Raptor Rehabilitation and Education Center which specializes in the rescue and care of Connecticut’s wild injured, orphaned, or ill Birds of Prey. The goal of this volunteer based organization is to preserve wildlife for the future by protecting wild raptor species and promoting an understanding of how we as humans can lessen conflicts with wildlife in our very own backyards. Handlers share resident raptor species with the public for a unique up close experience. For more information please visit www.aplacecalledhoperaptors.com or email hope4raptors@yahoo.com

Meet with representatives from Middletown’s Pollinator Pathway organization to learn about their efforts in the community. The Pollinator Pathway movement seeks to reconnect our fragmented landscape by creating and connecting pollinator habitat right in our own communities–starting in your yard or neighborhood park. If we begin to manage our own yards organically and with native plantings, we can use them to connect parks and preserves, creating crucial corridors for wildlife. That is the idea behind the Pollinator Pathway.

There will be a rock painting station on the terrace throughout the day, and guests are invited to paint rocks at home to bring with them to hide among the grounds and trails.

Ongoing throughout the afternoon, docents from the Friends of Long Hill Estate will lead guided tours of the Mansion providing a narrative that details the history of the estate. Furniture donated by the Wadsworth Family will be on display in the History Room.

Guests are encouraged bring a kite to fly on the vista, enjoy independently the 103 acres of parklands and view the daffodils that will bloom sometime in April assuring us all that spring has finally arrived.

Kerry Collins

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