Business

‘Funky Monkey’ Children’s Store on South Avenue To Close

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Funky Monkey, a children’s games, toys and clothing shop located on South Avenue is closing its doors after a little more than two years in town. The store at 4 South Ave. opened in late May 2016. It isn’t clear just when it’s closing, whether it’s reopening elsewhere, whether patrons can purchase items online after it’s closed or just why it’s closing. The business’s owner, Amanda Cui, said only that it’s closing due to future renovations planned for the building, declining to comment further. The shop offers items curated by Cui, a local mother herself, designed to appeal to children of all ages.

Business

‘It All Comes Full Circle’: One Year After Stroke, New Canaan Spa Owner Back at Work

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One year ago, New Canaan business owner Beth McCarthy suffered an aneurysm and subsequent strokes that nearly ended her life. Then 46 years old, McCarthy—owner of Aetheria Day Spa, a Cherry Street mainstay for a dozen years—went into cardiac arrest twice on the way to Yale-New Haven Hospital’s Neuroscience ICU and would spend the next several months recovering at its Acute Stroke Rehab Center. The traumatic experience has transformed McCarthy, she said. “I try to take advantage of what’s happening now and what makes me happy now,” McCarthy told NewCanaanite.com with a smile on a recent afternoon from a cushioned chair in the waiting room at Aetheria, where she has resumed work. She added: “I am better than ever, the healthiest I have ever been.”

The resilient McCarthy is not only back on her feet, but using her experience to bring awareness and appreciation to the first responders, medical, and military personnel whom she credits with saving her life.

Around Town

‘It’s Finally Happening’: Long-Planned Restoration, Completion of World War II ‘Gold Star Walk’ Underway at Mead Park

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A nearly 10-year effort to revitalize a World War II memorial path in Mead Park, spearheaded by a longtime New Canaan resident, finally has an end in sight, as repair of an existing footbridge and construction of a second one recently commenced. Originally installed in 1945 at the end of World War II by a local gardening club, the “Gold Star Walk” at Mead had included 38 flowering trees honoring each of the New Canaan men who lost their lives in service (see list at end of article). Each tree had been fitted with a plaque bearing the name of the deceased. Yet the trees and the walk have fallen into disrepair, with the plaques missing and many of the trees no longer flowering—a situation that New Canaanite and Korean War vet Jim Bach found unacceptable. He has raised funds to complete the Gold Star Walk and has tapped local landscape architect Keith Simpson for the critical bridge work.