PHOTOS: ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ Returns to Downtown New Canaan

Hundreds of auto enthusiasts gathered in downtown New Canaan Sunday morning for the third “Caffeine & Carburetors” event of 2018. Pine Street and the one-way stretch of Elm were closed to motor vehicle traffic as New Canaan residents and visitors to town mingled over brew from Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, owned by C&C founder Doug Zumbach, visited tents set up by nonprofit organizations and sponsors and learned about the vehicles themselves and morning’s happenings from New Canaan’s Peter Bush, known to many locals as a longtime host on The Fox-95.9 FM. 

“It’s a great turnout,” C&C volunteer Matt Konspore of New Canaan said on the clear, sunny morning while guiding slow-moving vehicles out of the show. 

Flo Carbone of Bankwell, a sponsor of the event, said from the local bank’s tent: “Everyone is out having a great time, beautiful day.”

Caffeine & Carburetors will return to downtown New Canaan Oct. 21 for the final event of the year.

Parks & Rec Approves Spring Dates for 2nd Annual ‘Cherry Blossom Festival’ at Mead

Following a successful inaugural event, town officials this month approved use of the colonnade area at Mead Park by the Japan Society of Fairfield County for a cherry blossom festival this spring. The Parks & Recreation Commission voted 6-0 to approve the festival to run on Sunday, May 6—or, if the Society prefers, to run on Sunday, April 29 with May 6 as a rain date. “It was just a wonderful gathering, very family-friendly,” commission Chair Sally Campbell said of last year’s festival. New Canaan resident Jackie Alexander, a member of the Society who is helping organize the festivals, said the events are traditional celebrations in both Japan and the United States. “Cherry blossoms, as you know, are a harbinger of spring, it’s very fleeting, so it’s meant to appreciate the tradition of enjoying each moment of the cherry blossoms season,” Alexander told commissioners at the meeting, held in Lapham Community Center.

Parks Officials Propose 2018 Waveny Pool Rates

Saying that Waveny Pool’s reserve fund is in good shape, parks officials are recommending only modest increases to certain fees to use the popular facility, while significantly reducing the costs for an individual pass. The Parks & Recreation Commission voted 6-0 at its Jan. 10 meeting to hold the resident family pass rate at $455 for the season—it typically is open Memorial Day to Labor Day—while reducing the cost of an individual pass from $265 to $175. Recreation Director Steve Benko said that last year’s price drew some criticisms from residents saying it was too high, that they “don’t go that often” or only go on weekends, “so giving that we are on sound financial footing the committee felt that they would reduce the pass to $175 for the season.”

Commissioners voting in favor of the new slate were Sally Campbell, Hank Green, Francesca Segalas, Katie Owsley, Gene Goodman and Matt Konspore. Commissioners Doug Richardson, Jason Milligan, Andy Gordon and Laura Costigan were absent.

Parks Officials by 6-0 Vote Back Garden Club’s Plan for ‘Parterre Garden’ at Waveny

Parks officials on Wednesday night voted unanimously in support of a longstanding nonprofit organization’s plan to redesign, re-plant and otherwise improve a prominent garden at Waveny. The New Canaan Garden Club’s plan for the “parterre garden”—located east of the balcony of Waveny House (down that first set of stairs, en route to the sledding hill)—is “timeless and classic” and “engages both visually and physically,” according to Tori Frazer, a member of the organization’s Waveny Walled Garden Committee. “This has always been a formal garden,” Frazer told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their regular meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “We intend for it to stay a formal garden. All the plantings and the plans are classic and will stand the test of time.”

The commission voted 6-0 in support of the plan.