Rec Director on Caffeine & Carburetors: Spectators, Not ‘Show’ Car Owners, Driving Higher Attendance at Waveny

On the heels of similar comments from parks officials, members of New Canaan’s legislative body this week said that while volunteer-run Caffeine & Carburetors gatherings are fun events that showcase the town, it now must be regulated in some fashion due to its rapid growth and size.

Steve Karl, vice chairman of the Town Council, said during the group’s regular meeting Wednesday night that the auto enthusiasts gathering is a “great event” and “attraction to New Canaan” that creates a lot of enthusiasm.

“But by the same token … we are a small town and you’ve to regulate it a little bit,” Karl said at the council’s meeting, held at Town Hall.

“And I love it. But we need to be careful. It is Waveny and people are there are Sundays doing other things.”

The comments came during one small part of a longer update on all things recreation from Park & Recreation Chairman Sally Campbell and Recreation Director Steve Benko, ahead of fiscal year 2018 budget season.

One month ago, an estimated 1,300-plus people attended the fourth and final Caffeine & Carburetors of the year (two are held downtown, two at Waveny)—its largest-ever crowd. At a subsequent meeting of the parks commission, Campbell said New Canaan now must consider some mechanism by which the size of the event could be controlled.

It started six years ago on Pine Street as a modest gathering of antique and classic auto enthusiasts, outside Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee. Attendance grew rapidly to encompass all of Pine, and two years ago it expanded to include Elm Street, as well.

It debuted at Waveny for a single gathering in the fall of 2014 after getting support from a divided Park & Recreation Commission, though all agreed it was well-run and one of its founders—New Canaanite Doug Zumbach, who owns the coffee shop on Pine—paid for portable toilets and police, trained volunteers to help direct “exhibiting” cars as well as attendees, and also took in a donation for the New Canaan Food Pantry from those who came to Waveny for the event.

Parks officials approved two events downtown and two at the park for 2015 and they did the same this year.

Campbell noted during the Town Council meeting that the organizers of Caffeine & Carburetors must return to the parks commission again in order to request dates at Waveny for 2017.

She said: “We asked them when they first started at Waveny to pre-register cars, to limit them, and I think it’s a wonderful event and people really enjoy it—but you cannot have it unlimited, and it keeps growing so I think we have to take a look at it. And we are looking at it.”

Benko called the high attendance the result of a “domino effect” that may not have depended on the car owners bringing special cars to be seen.

“It’s not so much the number of cars exhibiting but it’s just we had a lot of spectators,” Benko said. “There is no way to anticipate how many spectators are going to come to the event, and probably two-thirds of the cars [at Waveny last month] were spectators.”

Councilman Cristina A. Ross asked whether Caffeine & Carburetors is a “money-maker for the town.”

Benko answered that it isn’t, because to this point there’s been no fee for participants or spectators, though he underscored that Zumbach has seen to it that those in attendance make the food pantry donation.

“There is no cost to the town for the event, other than we provide the facility,” Benko said.

Zumbach provides liability insurance and $1,000 cleanup bond for Caffeine & Carburetors, secures permits to sell coffee and keeps participants updated (on things like weather—it’s canceled in case of rain) though the event’s website and Facebook page.

At the Park & Rec meeting, commissioner Matt Konspore suggested a $10 fee for attendees, which in turn could be donated to the Waveny Park Conservancy.