OneManchester

Autumn Street is .8 of a mile long running north and south with 85 houses and 15 street signs indicating that you are either on Autumn Street, or turning in or out of it. The sign above can be found at the south end of the street, and will most likely be on Calendar Project 2027’s October page.

The fire at 805-809 Main Street started at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, 10-12-13 according to published reports. The photo on the top was taken the following day and the one on the bottom was taken on Monday, 10-14-13. The 1905 building was home to Great Harvest Bread Co. and Connecticut Valley Coin. There are more pictures from the scene in this folder.

…and the agony of defeat.

I took this picture Monday night at Manchester High and spent too much time this week trying to decide whether it should go in the OneManchester newsletter or The Annex. So here we are.

I was in a poor position to get a shot of the actual goal, which happened right in front of me, but didn’t have time to wallow and just started clicking away at the celebration. I was completely surprised to see the contrast of emotion I had accidentally captured.

Here’s some fall color from 10-3-18, captured at 153 Spruce Street during a Wednesday night farmers market that featured live music, laughter and lots more color. Click here and see for yourself.

It’s almost unthinkable by today’s standards that a tavern could be successful in such a small, narrow space (16 x 44), but Renn’s Tavern operated for decades at the corner of Cooper and Walnut Streets before closing sometime between May of 1995 and June 1996.

The building is used for storage these days and I’m sure there are plenty of stories buried behind those boarded up walls. Btw, special thanks to Noreen Palladino Cullen for researching Renn’s closing and all the genealogy and research work in general that she does.

As for when Renn’s opened, I went through the town directories available on the Manchester Historical Society website and found the tavern listed in 1934, but in 1927, Economy Grocery occupied 76 Cooper St. (the property is now under the 72 Cooper St. umbrella). So let’s say it opened at some point during that seven year stretch, and raise a glass for all those who raised a glass at Renn’s Tavern over its 60 (ish) year run.

Paul McCluskey scored six touchdowns on a muddy Memorial Field Thanksgiving morning in 1980 to lead Manchester High to a 40-7 win over cross-town rival East Catholic. But on Sept. 21, 2018 Paul was battling ALS as he was escorted to the middle of the same Memorial Field as the honorary captain for his alma mater’s game against Southington.

You can see more pictures from the emotional night by clicking here and learn more about Paul’s extraordinary life through his Humans of Manchester story and June 2020 obituary.

I like sunflowers, contrast and barns and this Summer Street scene from 9-3-21 has all three.

I went out at sunset on July 31 to take pictures of a couple of buildings for the July Calendar Project 2027 page. The first building had a giant ‘for sale’ sign in front, and there was an arrest taking place in the parking lot of the second, so I scrapped the idea and started a slow drive home with a mission unaccomplished feeling. Heading north up Pine St. through the Cheney Mills, I decided to stop and give it one more try. I put my camera on a tripod, set the shutter very slow and took a bunch of pictures of vehicles traveling past the Ribbon Mill. This one of an Axle & Spindle flatbed was my favorite of the lot, and though it doesn't work for the calendar, I thought it would be fun to share in this space.

This is what the first day of school looked like at Bowers Elementary School five years ago.

CALENDAR PROJECT 2027 update:

I may have taken the August calandar page picture last weekend, but more on that after the month closes.

Here’s what the calendar pages through eight months - including December's which was taken in 2025 - look like. You will notice there are no people (somewhat intentional), three statues (accidental), three buildings, a sculpture and a bridge. I’ve stayed away from the big events (car show, road race etc) and mainstream locations like the Case Mountain waterfall, libraries and Town Hall, and may swap out the March picture for the Art/bicycle one in the folder.

And one more thing: There’s still time to order your own free copy before midnight on Nov. 15 by emailing me at pofria@mpspride.org.

The George Washington Monument on the Manchester Green is often overlooked and under appreciated. So I ventured out to the dangerously busy triangle one evening last month hoping to capture an image for the July Calendar Project 2027 page. I’m still considering this one and a few others from the shoot, but the small font on the plaque commemorating Washington’s time in town doesn’t really work for a calendar.

Click here for a closer look at the plaque, and to see a few more pictures of the garden planted and maintained by The Manchester Garden Club (100 years young this year), and here for more info on the Manchester Green, The Woodbridge Tavern and GW’s visit.

You may have seen this picture in last week’s OneManchester newsletter and those of you who signed up for a free calendar will see it again on the March 2027 page. It was taken by request immediately after the Emily Cheney Neville statue dedication in Center Memorial Park on June 4, and before the public fawned over it for the first time. The request came from a committee member who thought the moment should be documented, and I was honored to capture it. The dedication ceremony included Emily’s children and grandchildren, an original song performed by Manchester’s troubadour, Christian Loftus, and an original poem read by Manchester’s poet Laureate, Nadia Sims. You can see pictures from the ceremony in this folder, but you should check out the amazing sculpture of Manchester’s award winning author (It’s Like This Cat, Berries Goodman) in person. It resides on the west side of the park, directly behind Mary Cheney Library.

Season 3 of the Annex is now in the book. Thanks for checking in; we’ll see you Aug. 20 when the OneManchester newsletter returns for season ten.

This picture was taken nine years ago last week at South Windsor High. Manchester High (they were still the Indians) snuck into the LL tournament, then upset the Bobcats (18-2) thanks to junior righthander Dylan Benton, who threw a complete game and went on to play at CCSU.

For those scoreboard watching at home: Canon 1D mark iv, Canon 70-200mm, f4.5. 1/1000, ISO 640 from 195mm.

On Tuesday at 7:16 a.m. the sun was hitting The War of the Rebellion (aka the Civil War) statue in Center Memorial Park squarely as I was driving by. I didn’t have time to stop, but made plans to return the following morning at the same time to catch the statue in the brilliant natural spotlight. Unfortunately on Wednesday the sun was partially covered with haze, so this picture isn’t what I had hoped it would be, but it will most likely represent the month of May in the 2027 Calendar Project. If you haven’t signed up for your free copy, email me at pofria@mpspride.org before the fast-approaching Nov. 15, 2026 deadline. And if you would like to see a few more pictures of the statue and the park taken Wednesday morning, click here.

I was in the right place at the right time to catch this moment during Manchester’s 2019 Memorial Day Parade. The family of the pictured veteran and a few others contacted me for a copy, so I printed up ten, signed them and gave them away to whoever asked. I had one framed professionally and sold it at a show, but between the printing and framing, I lost a few dollars. I’ve probably mentioned this previously: I’m not good at business…. Anyway, my photoshop skills have improved over the last seven years and I’m thinking about cleaning up the over-exposed flowers at the bottom and printing another run of ten. In the meantime, I have two first-run copies left (#s 4 and 5) and will give them to the first two Annex readers to email me a request at pofria@mpspride.org

Manchester had seven cemeteries back in 2018 (we have added at least one since) and I photographed all of them in May of that year for a photo essay that can be seen here.

Five of the eight cemeteries (Buckland, East, Hillstown/Veterans, and West) are owned and maintained by the town. They take up 125 acres (with 50 more waiting for us), while the other four (St. Bridgets, St. John’s, St. James, plus newcomer AMC Muslim Cemetery at 460 Hillstown Rd.), are privately owned and maintained.

Herman Munster may have asked, “Were you dying to see them?" Not literally, obviously, but I enjoyed the project and am looking forward to revisiting a couple of the graveyards, especially St. John’s on Jefferson Street. The quiet little gem of a resting spot is tucked away in a North End neighborhood where a plot can be yours for a mere $1,100 - plus $600 for perpetual care. $600 for perpetual (I think that means till the end of time!) care? How do you beat that for value? You can’t.

Also, if you are shopping for a plot, or just curious about final costs, rules and regulations, the town has an informative page on its website for its cemeteries. And here is a directory with info on some of the private cemeteries in Manchester.

Back in the spring of 2017 I was working at both Manchester High School and Cheney Tech when I got to know Quintin Czarnota (left) at MHS and his twin Chandler at Cheney. It took me a little bit to figure out that they were twins since I would see them at different schools on different days, but once I put one and one together and found out they were both baseball players, I knew their story would be popular and would practically write itself. Click here to read about the day the Czarnota twins pitched against each other as seniors at Northwest Park

Text and photos from the April 23, 2020 OneManchester newsletter:

Carolyn Boyle (left) celebrated her 75th birthday by visiting with her mom Doris Boyle, who turned 100 in January, at The Arbors “Chat Window” Wednesday afternoon.

The Boyles are a great example of celebrating life during these troubled times.

Doris, who Arbors Recreation Director Laurie Robinson calls an “amazing volunteer,” has been the chairperson of the Arts and Crafts Committee for years and still creates beautiful handcrafted greeting cards that are sold to visitors, vendors and residents.

The girls, who are both originally from the coal mining town of Sugar Notch, PA, generally celebrate birthdays by going out to lunch (The 99 Restaurant and Paul’s Pizza in Vernon are among their favorites) but they were thankful to have the opportunity to chat by phone at the window on this special day.

Here’s a look back at an odd tax season tradition that seems to have quietly vanished - at least in Manchester. This picture was taken at the northwest corner of Main Street and Middle Turnpike West on 2-28-14 and the subject was happy to chat on a cold and windy evening. Was Liberty Tax Service’s practice of sending employees out in the cold to hawk for business an example of corporate exploitation? Or was it an earning opportunity for those looking for work? Let’s check in for some insight from my new bff Al Overview and decide for ourselves.

CALENDAR PROJECT 2027 UPDATE: March was a bleak month for photos. I searched frantically, but in vain, to find a patch of forsythia in bloom on the 31st (they were easy to find on April 1, no joke), so I settled on this March 28 photo of the newly renovated Spruce Street Community Garden for the March page. Btw, It’s not too late to reserve your copy (the firm deadline is 11-15-26 at midnight) and you can learn more about this project by clicking here.

April 2 is Autism Awareness Day and Gabe Forde was an eighth grader at Illing Middle School in April of 2023 when we took a few pictures and recorded a video.

The answer is no, of course, but old cars, “corrode and oxidize over decades or centuries, turning into rust or metallic compounds,” says my friend AI Overview. This car lives at Barlow Park on the southwest corner of Manchester and has been corroding and oxidizing for quite some time. I’m pretty good at IDing old cars but this one has me stumped. It looks like a delivery vehicle from the mid 1950s and was powered by a V8 according to the badge on the front quarter panel. This picture was taken on 3-19-22 and I’m planning a return trip soon to see how the corroding and oxidizing (and sinking) is coming along. For more info on Barlow Park, click here to read a fun blog entry written by ‘Steve’ in 2017. And one last thought from Al Overview: "While some metals like iron can rust away, they remain as metal ions in the environment." The Overview family must be so proud of Al.

That’s science teacher Bryan McCain wearing a couple of pies in the MHS cafe on 3-14-2024. Pi Day wasn’t a thing when I was a kid, and according to AI Overview, “Pi Day has been celebrated annually on March 14 (3/14) since 1988. Founded by physicist Larry Shaw at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco, the first event featured a parade and fruit pies. It was officially recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009.” This is Bryan’s second appearance in The Annex btw, and he was equally unrecognizable in his debut back in September.

I was relatively new at this when Cindy from Central Office asked me to photograph a second grade student for the cover of a teacher recruiting brochure. I brought a camera and maybe two lenses to Bowers School on the morning of 10-28-2016 and that’s about it. No lights and no real plan, but somehow it all worked out. I probably would have chosen one of the outtakes for the cover, like the one above, but didn’t have any argument with the one they used.

Last Week’s question about the plows wasn’t really fair and I apologize. Unless you live in one of the two houses in the top left portion of the frame, you probably wouldn't know that the two plows were traveling west on Lydall St. after passing Saulter’s Pond on their right. So I will put the two-dollar bills back in the vault and will try to give them away another day.

Hailey Ngo was a junior at UCONN in February 2022 and suggested we use Matt Atkin’s art room at Manchester High as the backdrop for her Humans of Manchester photo. She spent a lot of time in that room as an MHS student and we were both comfortable amongst the color and chaos. We had a lot of images to choose from and the one above was one of my favs, but didn’t make the cut. Click here to read Haley’s story and see the photo she went with. And here to see the rest of the shoot.

With President’s Day around the corner, I went back to Feb 2019 when our newsletter featured Manchester streets that shared a last name with a president. I drove around town with a list and came back with eight pictures of street signs bearing the names of nine presidents, including the two-fer with Coolidge and Harding above.

Of course not all of these streets were actually named for a president. It’s probably safe to say that Washington Street was named after George, and given when Kennedy Road was built, it was most likely named in memory of John F.

Carter and Clinton Streets were around long before Jimmy and Bill, while Adams and McKinley Streets were most likely named after John or JQ; and William, the 25th.

There must be more than nine streets in Manchester that share a name with a president, you might ask. Yes, in fact there seems to be 20: Adams (2) Clinton, Coolidge, Ford, Grant, Harding, Harrison (2), Jackson, Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, Madison, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taylor, Tyler, Washington and Wilson.

Manchester also has four streets named after Saints (James, John, Lawrence and Paul); all four seasons are covered (Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter) yet only one street matches up with the surname of a Beatle (Harrison again), though we have Star Farms (spelled wrong) and Preston Street, for those of us who accept Billy as the fifth.

We have Hyde, but no Jekyll; Joseph and Mary but nothing for the baby Jesus; two streets that start with a Q (Quaker Road and Quarry Knoll Circle); one with a Y (Yale) and no streets that lead with a Z.

Last week’s OneManchester newsletter opened with a couple of pictures of the Elisabeth Bennet statue on Main Street surrounded by snow banks with the apartment building named in her honor serving as a backdrop. Bennet Academy, which was also named in her honor of course, is directly behind the statue. The idea was to emphasize how much snow we received from last week’s storm.

The picture above, which was taken the previous evening in the bitter cold, didn’t fit the narrative, so it landed here. This picture would be a nice fit for Calendar Project 2027’s February page -- if only it were taken in February… so I’m thinking I should revisit the scene this month and try to replicate it, or perhaps find a more interesting angle. Either way, I am shelving the Landtrust properties-only motif for this project (for 2027 anyway) and will be looking at locations throughout town each month for pictures to fill out the calendar. And here's a reminder that I will print a calendar for anyone who requests one in writing (email will suffice) no later than midnight on 11-15-26.

One of my side projects for 2026 is to photograph a different Manchester Land Trust property each month, and at the end of the year, take the best one from each location and (I think you can see where this is going…) create a calendar. I have December’s in the vault, so I could actually print one up as soon as the November picture is ready.

Calendar Project 2027 hit turbulence in late December when I learned that calendars, regardless of how beautiful they might be, don’t sell. That’s ok, because these won’t be for sale. I will print up a couple for my friends at the Land Trust and one for myself so I can mark recycling days with a big R and paydays with a big P. The two sacred events fall on opposite weeks for me, btw. I don’t need to mark birthdays, dentist appointments and oil changes because I remember them on my own. It’s a gift. Also, I will print up a calendar for anyone who requests one in writing (email will suffice) no later than midnight on 11-15-26.

About this week's picture. I took a walk on the Cheney Rail Trail from the South Station Saturday afternoon and decided on this picture for the January calendar page. Then I hit more turbulence. This time for real. I learned that the Town of Manchester owns that section of the Cheney Trail, not the Land Trust. So that leaves me with a big decision for this project going forward: Do I visit another Land Trust property before the end of the month in the hopes of coming up with something calendar-worthy? Or does the project pivot to a Manchester Landmark calendar. Either way, I will keep you posted and hopefully debut the February ‘27 page right here in The Annex sometime next month.

Prolific spray paint artist Ben Keller worked through the January elements to have this mural at the Mahoney Rec Center ready for MLK Day in 2021. My office was in the old section of Washington School at the time, and I took this picture on a snowy morning shortly after he completed the stunning mural. I found this short video documenting Ben’s process and another produced by Fox 61 that includes an interview with the artist.

The Coxe Cage is an amazing track & field venue at Yale University with 30 ft. vertical windows and a glass ceiling that team up to pour natural light on competing athletes. In other words, a photographer’s dream. I will be heading down there on Saturday for the Yale Track Classic to get photos for the MHS yearbook, social media and most likely the next OneManchester newsletter.

The Classic went dormant for three years after the pandemic and this will be my first visit since January 2020, so I went back into the archives and found these two pictures from the 2017 event that I sometimes show students (or anyone who will listen) how subtle light changes can affect an image. Note the vibrance in the subject’s hair on the left and how relatively bland it turns as she passes through the light in the next frame, which was a small fraction of a second later.

Looking back at RAW data from these photos, I feel like my shutter (1/500 of a second) was too slow and did not freeze the action very well, so I will make adjustments on Saturday. and hopefully return with some sharper images.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and if you are given an opportunity to visit Coxe Cage, take it.

My RAW file folder says I have taken just over 43K pictures so far in 2025. Of those, approximately 9K made their way into more than 300 subfolders documenting a range of events from athletics, bird watching, ceremonies, classrooms, concerts, festivals, graduations, parades, plays, portraits, protests, ribbon cuttings, sunrises and sunsets…to a wedding (that ended with a lot of yelling and finger pointing.)

From the 9K images, maybe a thousand were used in newsletters, reports, social media posts, and yearbooks throughout the year. From those, 100 or so are in the solid B/B+ range, and finally there may be five or six outstanding (to me anyway) photos that I would consider my best of the year.

You may have seen the two pictures I chose for my best of 2025 in the Nov. 13 OneManchester newsletter. They were taken during Manchester’s Veterans Day ceremony in Manchester Memorial Hospital’s auditorium and I felt fortunate to be paying attention and in position to capture the scene.

I went with a screenshot from the newsletter because I liked the way Jim Farrell packaged this all up with appropriate and reflective words between the photos, topped off with a concise two-word header. He is good at that kind of stuff and I appreciate his skills in shaping the newsletter from a Monday blueprint, to a Tuesday rough draft, to a Wednesday afternoon not-as-rough draft, to the 6 p.m. ish, mostly finished product that hits the streets on Thursday mornings.

Jim and I have fun working on the OneManchester newsletter between our other district responsibilities, hope our readers enjoy it as much as we enjoy putting it together, and we look forward to bringing you the stories that will help shape Manchester in 2026.

This picture was taken at Bailey Auditorium Tuesday night and was originally slated to be part of this week’s OneManchester newsletter, but got bumped….sigh…so here we are. Here’s a wider look at the scene which I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye during the Illing jazz ensemble’s set.

Holiday concert season is always fun and keeps me from watching Kojak reruns at night during the month of December when outdoor projects grind to a halt. The Bennet Academy shows feature a subplot that never gets old: Joe Grieco accompanying his music teacher daughter Erienne Mellen with the fifth and sixth grade choral ensembles.

I try to get fresh photos of the father-daughter duo each year, but my favorite of the bunch was taken last December while they led the sixth graders through a medley of holiday songs.

There will always be an invisible asterisk next to the 2020 Manchester Road Race results, which was held virtually because of the worldwide pandemic of course, with runners turning in their times after running a 4.737 mile course of their own design.

But a worldwide pandemic didn’t stop a hearty mix of COVID deniers, traditionalists and the curious (including 1980 champion Charlie Duggan) from showing up on Main St. in the pouring rain on 11-26-2020 to run the storied course.

The above picture was taken a few days before the cancelled race (pictures of people smoking next to no smoking signs; loiterers next to no loitering signs etc. are always fun) and it was even more fun being on Main St. Thanksgiving morning five years ago with this determined group of contrarians.

The iconic Paul’s Paint sign facing south on the corner of Main and Pearl Streets is slowly fading, like thousands of other so-called ghost signs throughout the country.

Dr. Ken Jones, a retired Jet Propulsion Lab scientist and acclaimed Hollywood special effects expert, photographed more than 8,000 ghost signs throughout the USA over a ten year span (2009 - 2019) and they are documented on Ken’s American Ghosts website. The site includes a state-by-state map with detailed photos from over 4000 towns, and if you scroll down far enough, you will see a few buildings that once hosted ghost signs before they were torn down.

"100 years from now," Jones told a Patch.com writer in 2011, "they won't be there anymore."

My ghost photo above was taken on 11-15-2018, and out of curiosity I revisited the location this week to find a more weathered, yet still visible reminder of a store that anchored that corner from 1954 until 2013 when it was bought out by John Boyle Decorating Center.

Bill Ludwig, the former Manchester town troubadour and prolific songwriter, wrote and performed an original song for the Joe McCluskey sculpture dedication on 11-17-2019.

Click here to hear (Run On) Shufflin' Joe - A Song For Joe McCluskey and here for more pictures from the ceremony and here to learn more about Joe McCluskey, who is considered Manchester’s Greatest Runner.

As we look ahead to Veterans Day, let’s take a look back at one of the veterans we featured in the Humans of Manchester gallery in November, 2018. Greg Morsbach teaches English at Illing Middle School and he told us back then that his civilian career is “continuation of service to my community” that ended when he left the Army.

Click here to read the rest of Greg’s story and here to see an updated picture of Greg taken in August with Team UCONN mates at Illing.

I took this picture while out looking for fall color on 11-1-2018, that much I'm sure of. And I'm fairly certain it was taken on Keeney Street. If you can prove me wrong, I will change the headline, credit you as a proofing editor and buy you one coffee of your choice at Silk City Coffee.

As Manchester High prepares for another indoor Homecoming event this week, I became nostalgic for the days when there was an actual parade starting in the center of town, with performances taking place near the end of a closed off Brookfield Street, regardless of weather. So here’s a look back at a rainy, colorful and memorable Friday afternoon nine years ago. Click here for more pictures from the 2016 Manchester High Homecoming Parade.

The camera on the right belonged to iconic Manchester photographer John Knoll (1887 - 1955) and resides in The Old Manchester Museum on Cedar Street. And the one on the left belongs to me. They are both Eastman Kodak No. 3A Autograph Model Cs, made between 1912 - 1915 and I’m not sure where John purchased his, but mine arrived this afternoon (10-15-25) after a winning bid of $27.93 (with free shipping) on ebay

John Knoll was a shopkeeper by trade but was more or less the photographer of record in Manchester from 1924 ish until 1935 when he was forced to close his store during the Great Depression. He rarely took his camera out after that, but his ten-year run was nothing short of spectacular from an historian’s lens

I have been a fan of his work for a long time but recently took a closer look at some of his century-old images and am blown away by his composition, the sharpness of his images and his ability to master a very difficult (by today's standards anyway) tool.

So that brings me to a project that I have started and will be documenting in this space from time to time, perhaps as early as next week.

We were both loitering on Center Memorial Park's east border wall on a mid-July day in the summer of 2016 when the guy started telling me his story. It was a good one but I can't remember details, only that it sounded a bit far-fetched. The guy agreed to be photographed while he spoke and I took 26 images that have been resting in a folder for nine plus years.

This three-photo panel slide is a tribute to a technique made famous through Playboy magazine’s series of in-depth and lengthy interviews with cultural figures.

We are going back to the classroom this week circa Sept. 2020, where students and teachers were mandated to mask and distance while adapting to a new learning environment.

It was a fun and challenging time to be a photographer, but thankfully it's over. The 2020-21 Manchester High yearbook is plastered with hundreds of masked smiles - from the cover (where the above picture can be found) to the classroom; to clubs, concerts and team pictures.

High school football and marching bands define fall for many, and I have slowly become a big fan of the latter over the last decade or four.

The 2025 Manchester High marching band has been practicing daily on a back parking lot behind the school since mid August, working on formations, commands and cadences etc. and will proudly lead the Red Hawks on to Memorial Field under this Friday Night’s Lights. That first kickoff of the season ushers in fall (for me anyway) but I am mostly looking forward to hearing what songs the band selected, this year's uniforms (last year's all sleek blacks will be tough to follow) and how they criss cross in 4/4 time across the 100 x 53 yard stage.

This week’s picture was taken on 9-21-2018 (you may have seen it in collage on the back wall in the Lincoln Center’s meeting room) and makes me smile every time, reminding me of how much fun being a high school kid can be. Hopefully it will have a similar effect on you.

Before Brandon Kienle began his teaching career with Manchester Public Schools he “worked as a general assignment TV news reporter (for a CNN affiliate) based in New York and covered stories all over the world, including the devastating hurricane Mitch in Central America, the war in Kosovo, and even spent a month working on a documentary that involved traveling all over Africa,” according to the Humans of Manchester story published on 9-8-2016.

Brandon had a chance meeting and a lengthy conversation with Dan Rather on a train, if my memory is correct, so he and I decided to use a poster of the CBS news icon hanging in his classroom as a backdrop for the picture that ran with his story. We took a few test shots the day before to make sure we had the angle, the pose and lighting correct and when it was gametime, we quickly got the picture we both were looking for.

Brandon passed away on 1-8-2024 and is missed by family, friends, students and coworkers, but not forgotten. Click here to read a touching eulogy on a truly dynamic human.

The first few days of school looked a lot different five years ago. That's MHS science teacher Bryan McCain under the protective gear on 9-14-2020 as schools throughout the country opened under a virtual caution flag.

Not quite John, Paul George and Ringo - not yet anyway...

Vinny (drums); Alina (guitar/vocals); Maya (lead vocals) and Lydia (keys) are (above, left to right) The Eldest Spawn. They are all Manchester High students playing all original indie/alt music and will be performing at the Silk City Fest on Purnell Place Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

I met up with the band for a photo shoot on a drizzly morning in June and we came away with a lot of fun images to choose from to promote the event. Here's a folder with a few more and there's more info on the 2025 Silk City Fest here

If you have lived in Manchester long enough, there’s a good chance your path has crossed with the frequently shirtless and mostly harmless Jay Pelletier's. He loves to pose for pictures and tell stories of when he was a roadie for national touring bands. And on this day at the bend on the oneway section of Walnut Street in early June, 2020, Jay’s deputy was another Jay Pelletier (unrelated), who showed me his driver’s license for validation.

This will be the last entry in The Annex Vault until Aug 21 as the OneManchester newsletter goes into hibernation for ten weeks. I hope this image is not a lasting one, and that you will return in the fall for season three:-)

Paul Ofria

1960-

A swarm of peaceful protesters turning left on Main from Center and heading north on 6-7-2020.

It was less than two weeks after the death of George Floyd and 90 days into a pandemic -induced lockdown, creating the perfect storm for demonstration.

On a lighter note, if you want dramatic pictures of a parade, march, roadrace, caravan or any group on the move, there’s no better place than out front, in the middle of the road as the subject approaches.

Manchester High's first 'Car Parade' took place in 2020 (most of us know why) and the tradition will continue this coming Monday when fancy and not so fancy cars filled with the latest crop of graduates take a low speed cruise through the heart of town.

This picture was taken on Brookfield Street facing north on 6-16-2020 and was used on the cover of the Journal Inquirer two days later.

We usually don’t see signs like this in New England, so when the Manchester Community College baseball team approached Mike Carter Stadium in Tyler, Texas prior to the National Junior College World Series on 5-24-2011, they didn’t know what to make of the message. I was just happy to know the Lone Star State was concerned for our safety.

Jeffrey Joslin was a Main Street Manchester legend when we teamed up for this picture. It was taken on 9-2-2016 inside the old Landmark Cafe at 867 Main Street where he was a barista and held court behind the bar. I ran into Jeffrey recently (on Main Street, of course) and he looks the same as he did in this picture, which was used in his Humans of Manchester story and kinda captured the essence of the Landmark era.

A year ago this week the Humans of Manchester page shared Jamie Kolek’s story during ‘Teacher Appreciation Week’ and I had the opportunity to sit in with her kindergarten class in the waning days of Martin Elementary School on 5-5-24 to capture this teacher teaching moment. Click here to read the rest of Jamie’s story.

Paige and Azzi (do we need last names at this point?) were local celebrities on their way to national icon status when they stopped by Martin School on 11-1-2023 to read to Julie Barbash’s second graders.

We met up in the parking lot by chance and made small talk on the way into the office, but the players had UConn hoodies pulled over and tied up to fend off the blustery wind and I didn’t realize who they were till I glanced at their names in the sign-in sheet. I knew UConn was sending a couple of players but figured they would be freshmen or reserves. So here they were, on the brink of superstardom answering questions, reading books and giggling like a couple of regular college kids with second graders who will someday understand how fortunate they were that day.

Click here for more pictures from the visit.

This picture was destined for The Annex Vault before it was even taken.

The Afro. The dark glasses. The spiked Bowser shell backpack. And a wardrobe dominated by black. “I always wear black,” said Brian Madden. “I just like to.”

That’s how the Humans of Manchester story starts.

And matching that lead with a picture was a fun and easy assignment.

Brian and I met in the PAC (Performing Arts and Communications) room at Manchester High on 4-17-24 and continued a discussion started a few days earlier. The camera was rolling as we talked about 1970s fashion and the life and times of Linc from Mod Squad while casually moving around the room.The colorful ARCY mural was the perfect backdrop, and after a few minutes we had the image we were both looking for.

If calendars were banned (it could happen), blooming forsythia could be our cue that we have entered the fourth month of the year. The buds are starting to pop around Manchester as I type on the afternoon of April 2, but back on 4-7-21 a blanket of bright yellow framed the Phillip Cheney Mansion nicely for me from Hartford Rd. Which brings me to this question: Are the colors late this year or were they early four years ago? Or maybe I just need to be patient?

Earlier this month The Silk City Fest announced that it will return to Purnell Place on August 23 after a year hiatus, so I thought this would be a good time to look back at some pics from past SCFs and landed on this one from 2022.

Pocket Vinyl is a piano-slamming/live-painting band… with a live painter, who creates a work of art on stage during the show, which gets auctioned off afterwards…every painting and show is unique, according to their website..

Fun Fact: Pocket Vinyl piano-slammed and painted to a world record in 2019 for playing in all 50 states in just over 44 days - including three shows in three states on Feb. 21. Click here to see the tour schedule.

Sacred Heart Academy may have had a slight advantage Sunday night in the Division I girls basketball final against Southington at Mohegan Sun Arena. The all-girls school (enrollment 345) located in Hamden turned the game around in the second half and captured its fourth state title with a little help from the sister section.

In March 2018 demonstrators flooded streets across the world protesting gun violence after the deadly mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida. And on the morning of 3-14-2018, a passionate crowd of Manchester High students did their part with an organized rally behind the gym, carrying posters and calling for action against gun violence. Click here for more pictures from the MHS rally.

Shorty, known formally as Shenielle Duncan-Clarke, was surrounded by her Manchester Community College teammates and basked in the spotlight on 3-7-2010 before jumping on a plane to Rochester, MN for the junior college basketball national championship tournament. Then-governor Jodi Rell stopped by MCC to wish the team luck and the television crews following her wanted to speak with one of the players. Shorty, who was not short on basketball skills or words, was a great spokesperson for the team and the college.

His real name is Kevin but most people know him as Raskal and the occasion on 2-23-2014 was his 60th birthday celebration. He held court in the living room where spent his childhood in the north end of Manchester and performed for a room full of admirers, mixing old standards with originals based on experiences from his storied life.

Photographing Humans of Manchester subjects has been a fun little side project over the last nine-plus years and some of my favorite images are from this series, including this week’s entry. Feryal Al Kalaf was a Manchester High junior when we met up last February for a photo shoot and I think Manchester High social studies teacher Chris Morelli described her best in the body of the story. “She’s brilliant, she works so hard, and lights up every room that she’s in,” adding that she is “so wonderful that no matter what you say, you feel like you’re selling her short.” Click here to read the rest of Feryal's story.

This picture was taken 2-19-2019 on East Middle Tpke. according to the JPEG data. I don't remember much more, but thought it would fit in with this week's weather cycle.

It was Groundhog Day 2018 and all eyes were on Chuckles.

He may have been scared by his own shadow or perhaps the TV cameras, or maybe it was just time for him to let go…

I rarely alter pictures but I had to make an exception with this one.

Meet Tammy Sullivan, a former Teacher of the Year and one of the district's best, who was working on math problems with her third graders at Bowers last January 24 when I visited her classroom. The picture was exactly what I needed for two little projects, but in the original it looks like the student ​closest to the camera is making an obscene gesture (she wasn't)​, so I added a finger and moved forward. And until now this was a loosely guarded secret​;-)

The cold and wind (mostly the wind) sent me searching for a picture from a warmer time for this week’s Annex entry, which brought me to Freeport, Maine, August 2023. Actually what brought me to Freeport that summer morning was missing the exit to Portland where I was planning to have lunch and take in the town. It was the second day of a road trip with no real plan other than to see the state capitol, and maybe Acadia National Park, when I stumbled upon the giant stage next to the giant L.L. Bean boot outside the giant L. L. Bean store where they sell clothes for well, mostly giants - their idea of small is my idea of extra large…

Anyway, I found a medium sized sandwich board listing L. L. Bean Summer in the Park concerts and my eyes nearly popped out when I saw that Melissa Etheridge was playing a free show (afterall, it's Freeport) that very evening, so all of a sudden I had a plan: Stay in Freeport for the night and see a 1990s icon perform. Turns out 20k others, including my cousin Eddie who lives in Texas, had the same idea. Eddie and I didn’t meet up that night - it would be weeks before we realized that we were both in attendance - but we agreed that Melissa put on an amazing show, running through her vast catalog of hits and telling stories through her signature raspy and easily recognizable voice.

Daylight was fading by the time the show started and my 100-400 zoom lens doesn’t perform well during or after dusk, but I was able to get a couple of keepers from afar before putting the camera down, closing my eyes for a little bit and thinking about life as a person 30 years younger.

Click here for a few more pictures from the show, plus the giant L. L. Bean boot and the spectacular Maine capitol building. And here for my fav ME song. And here for my second fav.

I didn't know Chris Terry before taking this photo for a Humans of Manchester story and arrived at Manchester High on 12-16-16 without much of a plan. We chatted briefly, then Chris hopped on the buffing machine and a few clicks later we had a picture that put smiles on a few faces.

This time around it's more about the person than the picture.

Governor Jody Rell is being remembered for many good things, including integrity, kindness and her ability to work with both Republicans and Democrats for the well-being of the state..

This picture was taken during a surprise visit to Manchester Community College on March 7, 2010 as the school’s women's basketball team prepared for a trip to the NJCAA DIII National Championshipship tournament in Rochester, MN.

The Hartford Courant’s boldface, all caps headline on Wednesday called Rell, “A LEADER WHO WAS ‘EVERYBODY’S MOM’” while its political columnist Kevin Rennie wrote that she was the “right governor for Connecticut at the right time.” And I’m guessing this week the former MCC basketball players are remembering the day the governor stopped by to see them.

From my first of two rides on the Manchester Road Race press truck on 11-23-2017. Paul Chelimo ran the course in 21:32 that morning, two seconds ahead of second place finisher Kirubel Erassa, and broke into a salute just before crossing the finish line.

And if you would like to see the 2017 MRR from the press truck in reverse, this folder has 60 images from finish to start.

Bernard Lagat was a three-time NCAA champion and five-time Olympian and was preparing for his first Manchester Road Race when he visited Manchester High on 11-20-17 for a clinic with young area runners. The smile matches his personality and the kids loved meeting and working out with a legend in the middle distance running world.

Lagat, who was 42 at the time, finished 15th overall in the 2017 MRR and first in the over-40 category.

Btw, that's an eighth grade Aidan Puffer posing with Bernard in the bottom left. Aidan went on to break many cross country and track records at MHS and is currently competing at Northern Arizona University.

I was walking through East Cemetery exactly five years ago today (11-7-19) looking for pictures for a Veterans Day story when I happened upon members of the armed forces ready to honor a fellow veteran.

Margaret Hamilton (1902 - 1985) played the Wicked Witch of the West in the original 1939 Wizard of Oz (and was just 37 years old at the time, btw) but Sarah Waggoner's version evoked fear in little pretties (and others) at the Manchester High's spring play in 2019.

I had a couple of pictures in mind for this week's Annex but found myself at Botti Farms yesterday (10-24-24) looking for a picture to close out the newsletter proper and kinda liked the contrast between the geriatric sunflowers, the sky and the browning tree line. Like many of us, I live for contrast.

This picture was taken on 10-17-2016, exactly eight years ago today.

I was at Memorial Field (inside what is now called the Barry "Mitch" Mitchell Sports complex) to take a picture of MHS quarterback Edison Galan for a Humans of Manchester story. On the way out, a couple of his teammates asked me to take pictures of them, which took a few minutes and allowed me to catch Mitch in this moment.

I put the picture in a folder for future use and mostly forgot about it until I received a call on 1-4-2017 with a request for a picture of Barry, and the news that he had just died of a heart attack on his way into the high school.

From The Hartford Courant, 9-17-2017:

“On that January morning, we lost a gem, a true treasure,” Mayor Jay Moran told the crowd at a pregame ceremony to dedicate the complex in Mitch's honor. “Big Mitch is not a security guard. Big Mitch was that surrogate parent. Big Mitch was that good friend."

Click here to see the sequence of frames before the keeper, plus the pictures of Edison and his teammates who inadvertantly made this picture happen.

Then and now pictures are cliche at this point, but are still fun to do.

Trying to stand in the exact spot as the original photographer, using the same crop ratio and dialing in the exposure, tones, etc. is worth the effort in the end.

I have several of these comparisons from around Manchester in the vault (with a few more in the pipeline) that I will sprinkle in over the next few months.

These two Main Street images were taken in 1954, by an unknown photographer (unknown to me anyway) and by me (while loitering) in 2020.

This picture goes out to all the crazy (and sane) cat ladies (and gentlemen) among us.

It was taken in late September, 2014 and is one of my favs of this now 10.5 year-old kitty who still loves jumping to neatly stacked wood piles, though a little more cautiously now.

The caption. If you are a fan of 1970s cop shows you may know who said it. If not, click here to find out.

'The Wall That Heals' exhibit, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, arrived in Manchester on Tuesday and will be open to the public at Charter Oak Park through the weekend. This week’s picture of Illing Middle School students was taken on Oct. 9, 2015 in Center Memorial Park the last time a wall replica was in town.

Click here for more information on the 'The Wall That Heals.'

The picture of the electric car was taken at Cruisin’ on Main in 2011, but it took a couple of years for me to catch up with its owner for the August 2013 ‘Manchester Life’ story on the right.

If you lived in Manchester over the later part of the 21st century and into the first decade of the 21st, there’s a good chance you crossed paths with the angular electric vehicle in the picture.

The 1975 Citicar was Don Paine’s (1922-2018) daily driver for the better part of 35 years before he sold it to a 15-year old with a passion for electric cars. Don was a US Navy veteran, an accomplished engineer and electric car visionary who called Manchester his home.

From Don’s obituary:
Don always dreamed about the day when electric cars would be in common use. In the late 1960s, decades before hybrid and electric cars hit the market, he took matters into his own hands--removing the engine of a Fiat and loading it with batteries. Even to those who did not know Don personally, he was often recognized in later years as the man driving around Manchester in a wedge-shaped orange electric "Citicar."

Learn more about Don and his Citicar in the 'Manchester Life' story

Verplanck was the second of five Manchester elementary schools to undergo complete renovations, and the first day of school was extra special when it reopened on Sept. 3, 2019 after being closed for a year during construction. The late Darryl Thames Sr. (left) was the BoE chair at the time and greeted students as they entered the new school that morning. Waddell (2018), Verplanck (2019), Buckley (2022), Bowers (2023) and Keeney last week all reopened on schedule after extentive makovers and Mr. Thames played roles in all five projects.

That’s Bennet Academy science teacher Kim Leining on the left exactly five years ago today (8-29-19) welcoming a new student into her classroom. I feel like this picture captures the excitement of a new school year and was fortunate to stumble upon this scene of happy faces toward the end of a back-to-school cookout for incoming fifth graders.

The Zurich Street Parade is billed as the largest techno party in the world, which is another way of saying an amazing photo opp for someone passing through town. Smokers are not as rare in Europe as they are in the states, but are photogenic internationally.

Add some face art, and you have my fav shot from the Summer of '24.

For more pics from the Zurich Street Parade, find me on instagram @pmofria

The Hartford Shockers played two seasons in the East Coast Basketball League and both ended with championships. The team played its home games at East Catholic and these pictures were taken in the home locker room after the second championship on June 17, 2023.

I enjoyed my two seasons as the team’s lead photographer and had no idea that there would not be a third, but semi-pro sports are a tricky business and for reasons that are too complicated to explain in this space, the Shockers will be remembered for going out as champions

Above is Chaise Daniels (Meriden/Quinnipiac) recording a non-alcohol champagne shower and the slide below features Scottie Dulaire (Bloomfield/Becker College) flashing some ring and trophy game. Daniels and Dulaire were two-time champs with the Shockers, leaders on and off the court and a lot of fun to work with.

This week we are traveling back five years to the Manchester Elks Club's Flag Day celebration at Center Memorial Park in 2019.

And here's a little Flag Day history lesson from the Florissant, Missouri (Lodge #2316) Elks Club website:

The ritual for the occasion is an elaborate one and it is quite generally conducted as a public ceremonial. It is designed to be informative as well as inspirational; and the colorful pageantry provided lends itself admirably to the achievement of these objectives. It was President Harry S. Truman who signed the Flag Day bill into law on August 3rd, 1949, who was himself an Elk.

The Manchester Elks (Lodge #1893) will be hosting this year's public ceremony at 30 Bissell St. on Friday and invite anyone with "flags in need of proper retirement" to drop them off at the lodge.

The next Manchester Public Schools Teacher of the Year will be announced on the morning ofJune 10 and honored at the Board of Ed meeting later that evening, so I thought this week I would look back at the 2016 announcement when MHS broadcast journalism teacher Eric Larson’s name was called.

I was in a great position by chance in the packed conference room at Central Office and had the right lens and settings on my camera (85mm, f1.8, 1/160, ISO 400), also by chance, and was able to capture this special moment in time.

Keith Carlock has been the drummer for Steely Dan since 2003, and Tom Deffenbaugh from Summit Studios and others (including drum legends Art Benson and Jay Wood) arranged for him to teach a master class at MCC on May 23, 2012.

This picture was taken during sound check and the original isn’t super sharp and a tad overexposed. But I liked the framing (which was pure luck), the backdrop and Keith’s expression, so I converted it to monochrome and came up with an image that has survived the test of time and remains one of my favs 12 years later.

John Hinton was working as a security guard when I first met him, but he was mostly holding court and testing material on coworkers. His comedy career had been on hold for years because he was taking care of family members, but the comeback tour was gaining steam on May 18, 2022 when I caught up with him at Funny Bones in Manchester.

John was the last of eight comedians on the bill that night, and by far the funniest of a very funny group. Each joke was raunchier than the last; drawing gasps, belly laughs and tears from an adoring audience.

Click here for more photos of John on stage at Funny Bones two years ago this week.

Five years ago this month Stop & Shop workers went on strike and picketed in front of stores throughout New England, including the one located at 318 Middle Turnpike West in Manchester.

Those who crossed the line might remember the eerily empty and unkempt aisles with managers fumbling to stock the shelves. The strike lasted 11 days and the union claimed a “powerful victory” when it ended as employees got raises and preserved benefits while costing the company an estimated $90–100 million in lost profits.

If you checked in with this page last week, you may be figuring out that I am drawn to the passion of protesters. And if you look at some of the faces of the Stop & Shop strike, you may think the feeling is mutual.