Business

‘Crafty Kids’ Planned for Former ‘Against the Grain’ Space on Main Street

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Another vacant commercial space on Main Street is in line to get a new tenant. 

Weeks after Carpet Trends announced that it was moving into the former Garelick & Herbs building, a Westport-based company that provides hands-on craft space for kids is looking to open a New Canaan location just a few doors away. Established two years ago, Crafty Kids seeks to “provide a fun space for children to grow their creative and social confidence through process art, hands-on DIY crafts and sensory play” in a “creative, fun and nurturing environment,” according to the company’s website. It’s seeking to open a location in the former Against the Grain space at 91 Main St. (also known to locals as the old Varnum’s Pharmacy location). According to a letter filed with the town as part of an application for site plan approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission, Crafty Kids “is an art business with retail and art studio components that provide a creative and interactive environment for children and adults.”

“We believe Crafty Kids shares many of the same positive attributes of other ‘personal service establishments’ that occupy space on the first floor in New Canaan’s Retail A Zone,” according to the letter, filed by Brock Saxe of Compass.

Government

Selectmen OK Funds for Work at Transfer Station Incinerator Building

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved about $28,000 to work on a former incinerator building at the Transfer Station, including removal of one stack. The selectmen at their March 25 meeting also approved funds to patch the roof of the building and relocate a radio antenna used by Department of Public Works vehicle operators. “We have two incinerator buildings,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “This is the one that houses the salt area and the Swap Shop. It was decommissioned in the ‘90s.

Allison Zinczenko

NCHS Grad Emilie Rubinfeld, Global President of Carolina Herrera, Coming to New Canaan Library on Thursday [Q&A]

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New Canaan Library will host its 2025 “Conversations with Business Leaders” event at 7 p.m. Thursday, welcoming 1992 New Canaan High School graduate Emilie Rubinfeld, global president of New York-based luxury fashion house Carolina Herrera (register here). In conversation with Bob Mitchell, co-CEO of Mitchells Stores, Rubinfeld will not only relate insights from helming of one of fashion’s most important legacy houses, but will also informally share looks from the current collection on stage. 

We sat down Monday with library CEO Ellen Crovatto, Exhibitions & Community Engagement Coordinator Miki Porta and Events & Marketing Consultant Allison Zinczenko, to get more details on the widely anticipated talk. Here’s a transcription of our conversation. ***

New Canaanite: What is the library’s ‘Conversations with Business Leaders’ series? Ellen Crovatto: ‘Conversations with Business Leaders’ was something that was begun with the help of Hazel Hobbs about 20 years ago.

Animal 411

New Canaan Woman Bit in Hand During Dog Attack

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A New Canaan dog finished a 10-day home quarantine last weekend after attacking another canine passing by his house, records show. Police on March 25 received a report from a local woman saying she’d been walking with her son and dog on Cedar Lane at about 6 p.m. “when a black lab ran out from behind a home and started attacking her dog,” according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. The attacking dog “was dragging a retractable leash and a young boy came running after him,” the report said. The woman “asked the boy to grab the leash but he did not respond,” according to the report, filed by New Canaan Police Officer Ryan Nero. She  then “tried to separate the two dogs and at some point, got bit on her right thumb,” the report said.

Around Town

New Canaan Museum & Historical Society Buys St. Michael’s Lutheran Church Property

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One of New Canaan’s most venerable nonprofit organizations has purchased an 1830-built church next door, officials say. The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society announced in a press release that it has acquired the adjacent 2.3-acre St. Michael’s Lutheran Church on Oenoke Ridge. “The property, adjacent to the Museum’s campus, contains the oldest church in New Canaan, formerly St. Mark’s Episcopal and now St.