Around Town

Waveny Summer Concerts a Success Despite ‘Weather Roulette’; Wednesday’s Show Postponed to Thursday

By |

Despite unpredictable weather—including a poor forecast that postponed Wednesday’s installment to Thursday—the town’s annual Waveny Summer Concert Series has once again been a great success this year, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. Held on the lawn out back of Waveny House, the event is “a fun family night out,” Benko said. 

“A lot of people will get together with friends…they have a conversation, listen to the music, and have a nice time under the stars,” he added. The series has been running in some form for nearly 40 years, Benko said. It started out as a collaboration with Manhattan-based Music Performance Trust Fund, and has since evolved into a 12-concert summer series featuring a variety of local and area musicians. Sponsors this year include Rand Insurance Co., Hobbs Inc., Kaster Moving Company, the New Canaan Board of Realtors and Karl Chevrolet.

Around Town

New Flowers Beautify Area Outside Waveny Pool

By |

With summer just around the corner, the New Canaan Recreation Department has been making the Waveny Pool ready for the upcoming season. Recently, the Recreation Department added new landscaping outside the pool to the make the popular summer spot’s entrance more attractive. Recreation Director Steve Benko told New Canaanite that the town has been working through the past couple of years to make the area outside of the pool look nice, and thinks that they finally accomplished that this year. “Some of the plants [from last year], just from winter kill, didn’t really make it,” Benko said. “There’s an island [and] because of the subsoil in the island we had some birch trees that didn’t make it, and then we tried a couple crabapple [trees] and they didn’t make it so we took them out and put some annual flowers in because the subsoil is so wet it holds water.”

After working diligently to find a match for the area outside of the pool, officials decided that it would be best to swap out the trees for annual flowers.

Government

Mead and Kiwanis Playgrounds Set for Update

By |

Following a plan brought forward earlier this year, the Board of Selectmen has approved the request from the Recreation Department to update the playgrounds at Mead and Kiwanis Parks. Recreation Director Steve Benko said during the selectmen’s meeting May 19 that most of the equipment is very old. “Some of the beams are from 1997,” Benko said during the meeting, held in the Training Room of the Police Department. “They are 18 years old and some of them are worn and scratched, so we need to replace them.”

The contracts with M.E. O’Brien & Sons, Inc. will install a new toddler swing set in Mead with single post swing set with two full buckets seats, including installation for a cost of $1,515. “Basically we are going to add a toddler swing to the park,” Benko said.

Around Town

Fishing Derby Set for Saturday, April 18; Financial Support Needed for Popular Event

By |

Organizers have set Saturday, April 18 as the date for one of New Canaan’s most cherished annual, kid-friendly and accessible events. The George Cogswell Memorial Fishing Derby at Mill Pond will run 9 to 11 a.m., and its organizers are seeking support from the community to ensure it continues. Held at Mill Pond since it was launched in the 1970s, the event sees the pond stocked with trout and prizes awarded to the boy and girl who catch the biggest fish. The derby’s upper age limit is 15 and entry is free. Its Fish Management Fund is running out and donations are needed, said Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works, which joins local merchants in helping the Recreation Department sponsor the event.

Around Town

Parks Officials Seek ‘No Dogs’ Designation for Bristow Bird Sanctuary

By |

Saying off-leash dogs are disrupting wildlife on the public property, town officials are pushing to rid the Bristow Bird Sanctuary off of Route 106 entirely of canines. The Park & Recreation at its April meeting voted to request the rule formally by way of the Town Council. There used to be a “No Dogs Allowed” sign at the Old Stamford Road entrance to Bristow, but there also long has been a dog litter bag dispenser and receptacle, so that creates a mixed message, said commissioner Andrea Peterson. “It should be a wildlife sanctuary, and it was a bird sanctuary and people walking their dogs, it’s disruptive to the birds and especially if people let them off-leash,” Peterson said at the group’s April 9 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. Some parks officials raised questions about the move.