Around Town

Retired New Canaan Lawyer Turns To Fungi Farming

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Pondering what to do after 50 years of practicing law, fourth-generation New Canaan native Richard Stewart turned to YouTube. 

It was 2019, and on the global video-sharing platform, he stumbled upon an unexpected hobby: growing culinary mushrooms.

“I knew I was ready to step away from law, and I needed something new to dive into,” Stewart told NewCanaanite.com on a recent morning. “I found a YouTube video that said you could gut your basement, grow mushrooms for 15 hours, and make $500 a week. That sounded like the perfect retirement plan.”

Stewart continued with a laugh: “Five years later, I’m working 50 hours and losing $500 a week.”

A member of the New Canaan High School class of ’61, Stewart has spent nearly 50 years living in New Canaan and now operates a small mushroom farm in North Salem, N.Y., called Stewart-Watson Farm. A graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin, Stewart served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era before earning his law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1972. After 11 years practicing in the courtrooms of West Hartford and Stamford, he returned to New Canaan to open his own firm, where he worked until his recent retirement.

New Canaan Police Department

Dog Bites Woman in Waveny Park

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New Canaan Police recently responded to a dog bite of a 52-year-old woman in Waveny Park. At about 4:40 p.m. on June 28, New Canaan Police Department officers were dispatched to Waveny on a report of a dog bite injury to a Norwalk woman, according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. Through a man nearby who was able to translate, the police learned that the woman had been strolling on the east side of the park, near Anderson Pond, when she walked near two older men with a “big white dog,” the report said. The dog had been on a leash but was not contained and bit the woman’s left arm, the incident report said. After being bitten, the victim walked to her vehicle in the parking lot near the girls softball field and contacted the police, according to the report.

Around Town

Playhouse To Premiere Jaws’ 50th Anniversary Documentary

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The New Canaan Playhouse this week will host a premiering event for the documentary “Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story.”

The Elm Street movie theater will do a one-time screening of the National Geographic documentary celebrating Jaws’ 50th anniversary at 9 p.m. Thursday. “We obviously wanted to show the movie, but we also wanted to make an event out of it,” CinemaLab CEO Luke Parker-Bowles said. “People should wear beachwear; with their admission, they will get luxurious Playhouse swag bags and other things like a photo opportunity with a shark suit.”

When asked why this documentary was so special, Parker-Bowles described Jaws as a near-perfect movie. “It’s an extraordinary symbiosis of documentary and narrative,” he said. “I think some people are scared of documentaries, but this is one you can’t miss.”

The documentary details the making of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 summer blockbuster that set box office records and redefined the cinematic landscape.

New Canaan Police Department

Warrant: Woman, 42, Arrested After Impersonating Bank Customer

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New Canaan Police on June 9 arrested a 42-year-old New York woman accused of impersonating a customer of New Canaan’s First County Bank. On Dec. 9, Officer Owen Ochs was dispatched to First Country Bank for the report of a female trying to impersonate another female in an attempt to gain access to their banking account, Ochs said in an arrest warrant application obtained by NewCanaanite.com. Prior to arriving at the bank, Ochs canvassed the area to locate the described suspect, but was unable to find her, according to the police affidavit, signed by a prosecuting attorney and a state Superior Court judge. Ochs then talked to the bank’s manager, who stated that the suspect “went to the teller window and presented a fraudulent Florida Driver’s License with [a customer’s] name,” the affidavit said. 

The teller knew the customer personally and quickly identified that the offender was not who they claimed to be, according to the application.

Around Town

New Canaan Resident Launches Free Fitness Boot Camp at NCHS

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For the past nine weeks, a budding local tradition has been cultivated at the New Canaan High School track every Friday morning at 5:45 a.m. 

In scorching heat or overcast gloom, longtime town resident and physical therapist Nick Rutigliano has shown up at the track to lead his free-for-all fitness class, “The New Canaan Fitness Boot Camp.”

What started as simply Rutigliano’s morning workout is now developing into a symbol of town unity as he leads a committed group of almost 10 people every week. “My passion is to try to help people and motivate them to move safely and prevent injury,” Rutigliano said. “My passion and love as a physical therapist is to help people recover, move better, and reclaim their strength. I’ve always believed that prevention and community support are just as important as treatment.”

He continued: “I saw this as an opportunity not only for me to continue my workout journey, but also to bring people together through movement. I wanted to create something that blended fitness, connection, consistency, and a space where people of all ages and backgrounds could show up, feel welcome, and grow stronger together.