Secluded Danbury Artwork to Be Made Available to the Public in the Hat City This Weekend

Just when I think Danbury has revealed its final hidden treasure to us all, something else appears.

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This time, that "something else" is a piece of Danbury art that is very rarely seen but will be made available to the public this weekend. This Saturday, June 11, is the 18th annual Connecticut Open House Day, where many cultural and historical facilities throughout the state are open to the public for free.

In Danbury, the Danbury Museum and Historical Society on lower Main Street will be open and offering tours and free entry to exhibits. At 256 Main Street, at the iconic old library building (where the Danbury Music Center is now based), the Danbury Cultural Commission will have volunteers on hand to answer questions about a very special mural on the main floor.

The 85-year-old mural was painted in 1935. The famed illustrator Charles Federer lived in Bethel and was commissioned to do the mural. It took him a year to complete.

The mural is painted on all four walls of the Millie Seigel Room. You begin at the first pane, on the first wall, and follow the story line around all four walls.

What’s particularly special is that in the first pane of the mural, some children are seen listening to a storyteller. Federer used local Danbury boys and girls as the models for his caricatures.

You can see this amazing mural from 11:00-4:00 on Saturday at the old library building at 256 Main Street. Parking is available in the Bardo Garage directly behind the former library building.

I'd like to give a special thanks to our friend Mike Allen for making this information, and these photos available to me. Mike is host of the podcast "Amazing Tales on and off Connecticut's Beaten Path" which is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Don't miss your chance to see this beautiful work in-person, this weekend.

P.S. Charles Augustus Federer was born in 1880, and died in Danbury in 1966. Federer studied at the St Louis School of Fine Arts.