As the weather cools and days shorten, I’m spending the hours at the end of the day more often inside than outdoors.

Until a few weeks ago, at 7 p.m. it was still light enough to sit on our porch, take a brief walk on a trail or chat with a neighbor. Now I’m more apt to look for something social to do that gets us out of the house during those months when good weather or icy roads don’t interfere with family plans or safety.

For this reason, I chatted with Sandy Lafleur, who founded and continues to run the Wilton Folk Café, held the first Friday of October, November, February, March, April and May.

Wilton was the beneficiary when Sandy and her family moved to town 11 years ago. She brought with her years of experience on the New England folk scene, running folk music venues as both an organizer and participant, and as a contra dance caller.

Initially, the Wilton Library was the organization beneath which the café was established on Oct. 5, 2018. Sandy booked, coordinated and handled publicity for these free events in collaboration with the library and the Wilton Main Street Association. She rounded up Nick Loy of NE Acoustic Sound to bring his sound engineering talents to the café, plus she had the help of many devoted folk music fans.

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Later, with more demands on the library’s small staff, it became necessary for the café to move under the umbrella of the Wilton Community Center, with free performances still held at the Second Congregational Church’s Collaborative Space (also a WMSA project). The café fills a niche that offers good shows from people you may never have heard of but are glad you finally met.

What Sandy demands of those who perform at the café are three things guaranteed to make a great show. The music needs to be good. The audience needs to learn something, and the audience needs to laugh. If all three points are met, she promises a successful event. I asked her for an example of the second point, and she said that one group came with a sitar and another with a shruti box to accompany the performers. Both are unusual enough that many in the audience saw an instrument played they may have only heard on recordings.

Wilton’s first folk café performance was by The Rakes, a group of up to 20 performers from several New England states whose style is to jam. Players join in as they get used to where the music is going, somewhat like how jazz is created, but with folk tunes from all over the world as the common ingredient. Sandy founded and has collaborated with this group over the past 25 years.

It’s through this collaboration that Sandy gained her deep familiarity with the local folk music scene. Her knowledge of who’s playing music and where they are based has often been gathered from networking through musicianship suggestions offered by the members of The Rakes and their contacts. She continues playing with them to this day, and they continue to jam every first Thursday of each month in the Second Congregational Church’s Collaborative Space. Sandy wants everyone to know that all are welcome to join in from wherever you may house your acoustic instruments.

Before she founded the Wilton Folk Café, Sandy had become enthralled with contra dance through her first experience of this dance form in Milford. Her musical background in guitar and dulcimer and love of folk music made this an almost immediate addition to her life. She eventually became familiar enough with this form of dance to become a caller. Her attachment to Milford continues, as she has added booking all the music for that town’s outdoor and indoor market in the Town Hall to her resume.

A.J. (or Anayis) Wright sings and plays traditional folk music with a maritime theme Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7. This acclaimed chantyman who has been a chantey-foreman at Mystic Seaport Museum and performed from New England to the Great Lakes.

After Wright, the next event on the Wilton Folk Café calendar won’t take place until next February. Upcoming groups include:

Feb. 7, 2025: Off the Cuff, a semi-acoustic instrumental and vocal quartet playing songs from the 1920s to the 21st century that crosses genres from jazz, swing and blues, to bluegrass, folk and Americana.

March 7, 2025: The Rakes.

April 4, 2025: Eve Pierce and Gordon Peery, offering eclectic music played on a roomful of instruments, from ballads to folk songs, jazz, show tunes and Eve’s eclectic compositions.

May 2, 2025: Low Lily Duet, a Vermont-based American roots band with the introspective quality of contemporary folk, the precision of bluegrass, and the drive of Americana.

The Wilton Folk Café at the Second Congregational Church Collaborative Space is located at 21 Gregg St., Wilton.

For information or reservations (strongly suggested), contact Sandy Lafleur at 603-654-1245, strumma@aol.com, or write to Sandy Lafleur, PO Box 877, Wilton, NH 03086.