🥕 Cromwell Farmers Market
Riverport Park fills back up with local vendors and food trucks, live music from Double Play, balloon twisting, and raffle prizes from local restaurants.
Riverport Park · Friday, August 14 · 4:00 PM
Cost: Free
Details →between the river and Route 9
Greater Middletown · weekend of August 14, 2026
Klezmer, critters, and an $87M bridge
Quiet weekend on paper, but a good one for wandering. Farm animals land on Russell Library's lawn, klezmer fills the Hubbard Room, and Cromwell's market keeps its Friday rhythm going with a live band and a balloon guy. Slow down, you earned it.
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All Weekend Long
🎨 Collecting China: Missionary Assemblages of a Distant World, 1844, 1911 Down in Olin Library's lower level corridor, this exhibit sits all weekend for anyone with a spare half hour. It pulls objects gathered by Wesleyan graduates in China, a quiet echo of the university's long-shuttered natural history museum.
Friday
👨👩👧👦 Farmers Market Storytime
Russell Library sets up on the Union Green right in the market crowd, with books, rhymes, and songs. Bring a blanket and settle in.
Union Green at Russell Library · Friday, August 14 · 10:30 AM
Details →Saturday
🐰 Summer Reading Finale with Xen's Critters!
Farm animals take over the South Lawn for the summer reading wrap-up, with plenty to look at, pet, and ask questions about. All ages welcome.
South Lawn at Russell Library · Saturday, August 15 · 10:00 AM
Details →🌲 Brownstone Park: Wakeboarding, Ziplining and More
The quarry park keeps its wakeboarding and ziplining running, a solid way to spend a hot day getting wet and a little scraped up.
Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park · Saturday, August 15 · 8:00 AM
Cost: $55
Details →🎶 A Klezmer Journey with the Nu Haven Kapelye
The Nu Haven Kapelye brings klezmer music into the Hubbard Room, open to listeners of every age who want to hear something a little different.
Hubbard Room at Russell Library · Saturday, August 15 · 3:00 PM
Details →😂 The Comedy Lounge at Giuseppe's Place
Giuseppe's Place hosts another round of stand up, a good excuse for a low-key Saturday night out with something other than a TV screen.
Giuseppe's Place · Saturday, August 15 · 8:00 PM
Details →In Case You Missed It
🚆 DEVELOPMENT: an $87 million overhaul of Middletown's railroad bridge The state has announced an $87 million project to rebuild a 115-year-old railroad bridge here in Middletown. Why it matters: That bridge has been carrying trains since before anyone reading this was born.
⛽ DEVELOPMENT: a ban on new gas stations Portland's planning and zoning officials have banned new gas stations, saying the town 'loses' character when it looks like a rest stop. Why it matters: A small rule that says a lot about how Portland wants to look in twenty years.
🚒 GOOD NEWS: lost hikers found on Higby Mountain Firefighters located hikers who'd gone missing on Higby Mountain in Middlefield during a storm. Why it matters: A reminder to check the weather before that next ridge hike.