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Bekah Wright: Fighting February Blues

What to do about February? The excitement of the holidays is over. Early spring flowers have not yet pushed through the soil to herald the warmer weather. The month can seem a stalemate between past joy and future expectation.

Bekah Wright of Chester has a solution, for at least one February weekend: the three-day Chester Arts and Literary Weekend that’s taking place from Friday, Feb. 9 to Sunday, Feb. 11. Bekah is Chester’s tourism liaison, a volunteer position.

“There are going to be so many great things going on,” she says.

The weekend will feature local authors, among them Howard Fishman of Chester talking about his new book, To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music and Mystery of Connie Converse; and environmental writer Erica Cerino, an Ivoryton Resident, discussing her book, Thicker Than Water, about the problem of plastics in the ocean.

The Chester Library will host children’s book authors who will not only read from their books, but also talk about the writing process.

Artist and first-time author Moya Aiken will host an exhibit at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek and a reading from her critically praised memoir at the Chester Gallery, where visitors can also enjoy works by noted artist and printmaker Richard Ziemann. Currently, there is a special exhibition of Ziemann’s work at the New Britain Museum of Art.

There will be a variety of programs at the Chester Meeting House, from a jam session at on Feb. 9 to a series of one-act plays on Feb. 11 at 5 p.m., sponsored by Breakwater Books of Guilford.

Look for demonstrations on glass blowing and 3-D printing at different venues, as well as a performance by the band Arrowhead at Leif Nilsson’s Spring Street Studio. Nilsson will also talk about the art he creates.

Little House Brewing will host a variety of events, including of the work of photographer Brenda Dunn and woodworker Nick Shkutzko.

The Chester Historical Society will have a retrospective of 10 years of its Creative Challenge, in which participants are asked to produce their own works of art using materials with close connections to Chester, among them hooks made by the Brooks company, a one-time local manufacturer; bone handles used on manicure sets made by Bishop & Watrous of Chester; and swatches of red velvet that once made up a curtain at the Chester Meeting House.

This year’s Creative Challenge is to fashion an original object incorporating antique pocket watches.

“I want people to come away from this weekend inspired,” Bekah says.

Bekah moved to Chester from Los Angeles two years ago. Her partner Bob Lee, an audio engineer, wanted to relocate to be closer to his family in Connecticut. The couple rented the house they are now living in while they were in California, arranging the whole process long distance.

Bekah feels enthusiastic about the results.

“I am having a love affair with Connecticut,” she says.

Bekah admits that she has had to make some East Coast adjustments following the move, even in her vocabulary.

“I didn’t know what a grinder was,” she says.

Still, Bekah has lost no time in immersing herself in the community. In addition to her volunteer position as tourism liaison, she leads two writers’ groups, with one in Chester and one in Clinton. She has also become involved in storytelling workshops.

“Storytelling has opened a whole new world for me,” she says.

Bekah’s material comes from her own life.

“Personal stories, adventures,” says Bekah. “I’m a writer. I love telling stories.”

Bekah is working on a book about small towns in Connecticut and is also writing columns for Connecticut Magazine and CT Insider. She also has, floating in her imagination, a movie set in Chester.

“But it will not be called Chester,” she says.

It is a busy schedule, but Bekah has a system for keeping track.

“A lot of Post-It Notes,” she says.

Bekah is a Virginia native and a journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Much of her early career in California was involved in the entertainment industry in a wide range of media from film animation to television and documentaries.

She was one of the producers of Old Man River, a 1999 documentary about the hidden life of a Japanese American actor, Jerry Fujikawa. In addition, Bekah headed research at Sony Animation. Her animated program credits include episodes of Godzilla and Jackie Chan Adventures.

Bekah’s articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, from the Los Angeles Times to Bon Appetit and TV Guide. Travel writing was her among her specialties, and her two favorite destinations, literally half a world apart, are Hawaii and Zambia.

Bekah has even taken on the new world of virtual reality, setting up a virtual reality company called Change Your Life Travels, for which she wrote an award-winning program, Experience the Winter Majesty: Grand Canyon South Rim.

While she is an accomplished writer, Bekah will be doing something much more mundane during the Chester Arts and Literary Weekend.

“I will be running around making sure everything is going well,” she says.

The experience she gets from the festival will be put to good use—and soon. Bekah is involved in organizing programs for Earth Day in Chester, coming up in April.

For more information on the Chester Arts and Literary Weekend, including listings, locations, and times, go to: visitchesterct.com.