Sandy Lafleur

WILTON – Sandy Lafleur, coordinator of the new Collaborative Space at the Congregational Church Parish Hall, and the force behind the restoration of the Still Good Shed at the Recycling Center, is this year’s “Citizen of the Year.”

Lafleur was named in a brief ceremony in the middle of town meeting on March 10. Selectman Kermit Williams presented a plaque and outlined some of her activities. “I’ve probably forgotten some of them,” he said.

A resident of Wilton since 2013, she is involved in many community activities including the Community Garden on Carnival Hill and the Souhegan Sustainability Fair which she hopes to bring back to the high school.

The fair drew several hundred people from over 20 communities, she said in a recent interview.

Sustainability, conservation, and preservation are her focus.

“She can be seen picking up trash along our roadways,” Williams said. She helps organize and takes part in town-wide clean-up days.

She is a promoter of “green burials,” which will now be allowed in town and appeared in a segment of New Hampshire Chronicle on Channel 9.

Lafleur plays the dulcimer and has given lessons for over 25 years and appears at festivals across New England. She is an organizer of the Wilton Folk Café, which opened at the Collaborative Space on March 11. The Café began years ago as The Acoustic Café at the Milford Library.

She is also involved in and supports the Wilton Community Center, a group which provides entertainment and educational programs for people of all ages and is seeking a permanent home.

Those programs, from senior citizens to children, are currently provided at the Collaborative Center.

“She makes Stone Soup,” Williams said, an annual gathering in Main Street Park where, following the old folk tale, the soup is made collaboratively with the help of her “magic stone.”

“You should go,” Williams said. “It’s really good.”

Bringing people together is what she does and much of that involves music. In addition to the Café, she is an organizer of the Milford Contra Dances and hopes they will soon return. She is a caller and travels throughout New England.

She organizes the music for Milford’s Farmers’ Market, currently inside, but will be outside in good weather. “I have lots of contacts,” she said. “Music is what brings people together, breaking down barriers.”

Like everyone, she is waiting for the return to “normal.” In the meantime, she still has a list of ideas and possibilities.