Around Town

‘They Support the Community’: Local Businesspeople Recognized by New Canaan Chamber of Commerce at Annual Awards Luncheon

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Local businesspeople in New Canaan work tirelessly year-round to serve the town of New Canaan and its residents—giving of their time and rolling up their sleeves to provide goods and services for those in need, coach youth sports and volunteer to support community events. On Tuesday, the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce recognized three businesses who have made a significant impact. “We do this every year—this is our way of honoring the businesses that support our town,” Tucker Murphy, the executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, said during the organization’s Annual Awards Luncheon, held at Gates. “It’s always hard because there are so many that do so many great things.”

This year’s winners are:

Rob Hutchinson and Hutchinson Tree Company for Golden Shovel
Steve and Leo Karl for Volunteers of the Year
Nick Martschenko and South End for Business of the Year

“The Golden Shovel is for an organization or club that lends to the beautification of downtown,” Murphy told NewCanaanite.com, referring to Hutchinson’s Christmas lights that run throughout town in the winter months. “The lights is just an all time favorite.

Around Town

Town To Install Pedestrian Crosswalks, Flashing Beacons at Weed and Elm

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With the new sidewalk on Weed Street connecting Elm Street to Irwin Park earning high praise and wide use from residents, town officials say they’re eager to ensure that pedestrians are safe in crossing the busy north-south road. An early plan to put in stop signs for Weed Street traffic at Elm garnered pushback from some concerned about traffic backup. Instead, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said, the town will install a crosswalk at Weed and Elm as well to help pedestrians access the new sidewalk. The town also will put in push-button activated flashing beacons that alert motorists to a pedestrian using the crosswalk, he said. “There’s one at Saxe right now across from Farm Road.

News

New Canaan Seventh-Grader Attends U.S. Soccer’s National Team Futures Camp

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In New Canaan, soccer has emerged as a staple of many childhoods, whether players take to the pitch in a rec jersey, for a travel team, with the high school Rams or in an adult league. And among the hundreds of New Canaanites who suit up across every level, one Saxe Middle School student is beginning to stand out in a unique way. Seventh-grader Noah Radecki has emerged as one of the town’s top players, recently attending the U.S. Soccer National Team’s Futures Camp, a highly selective training program hosted by national team coaches. Notable players at the camp include Jermaine Jones, who is on the U.S. Men’s National Team as well as the L.A. Galaxy, and Cobi Jones, who has the most appearances for the U.S. National Team in its history. After receiving the invitation to the prestigious camp, Radecki said he was speechless.

Around Town

‘It Means So Much’: New Canaan Land Trust’s Acquisition of Fowler Property Fulfills Family’s Wishes

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A local organization dedicated to preserving land and open space in New Canaan has acquired a large property in Silvermine, protecting it from future development and closing the loop on a closely followed conservation effort. The New Canaan Land Trust last month purchased 763 Silvermine Road—a 6.35-acre parcel that will help form the Silvermine Fowler Preserve—from Jim and Betsey Fowler. It’s adjacent to the 41-acre Hicks Meadows-Kelley Uplands Audubon Sanctuary, and plans for the now 48-acre property include creating trails where residents can hike, view wildlife and experience nature, officials say. “It means so much to have the land preserved, to bring it back,” said Mark Fowler, son of Jim and Betsey and now the nature initiative director at Grace Farms. “The old house will come down and it will be a beautiful piece of property with wetlands and small fields and a beautiful forest and a nice hiking trail, so for me, this is what the Fowler legacy is all about and it’s what the town needs.”

His dad, Jim Fowler, is an award-winning zoologist who gained fame as host of TV’s “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.”

“My father was a famous falconer, and we had a falconer that lived with us, so there was always some amazing wildlife experience going on there, and therefore we always were outdoors,” Fowler recalled. “We were always hiking around in these back properties.”

Mark Fowler said that preserving the land is important, in part, because it gives locals a place to unplug and explore—a snapshot of the 1992 New Canaan High School graduate’s own upbringing.

Around Town

‘A Magnificent Piece of our Town’: New Nature Center Executive Director Looks to Past, Future

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The New Canaan Nature Center—a place where generations of local families have learned about animals, attended preschool, hiked trails and studied nature—began in 1960 for purposes of “an arboretum, bird sanctuary, nature center, horticulture, and for passive recreation,” according to a deed given to the town by Susan D. Bliss, the property’s prior owner. The deed also specified that the Nature Center would serve as “a museum site,”  newly appointed Executive Director Bill Flynn told a group of visitors this week. For Flynn, the first permanent director at the Oenoke Ridge Road facility in more than one year, part of what the Nature Center strives to do is “prove that we’re worthy of [Bliss’s] generosity.”

“This is a gift” and a “magnificent piece of our town,” Flynn said during a meet-and-greet and tour on Tuesday morning that included a talk at the Visitor’s Center and hike around the campus. A staff member at the Nature Center for seven years, Flynn is in a unique position to both appreciate the organization’s rich history while also eyeing immediate and future needs, including for its several buildings. Priorities now for Flynn include maintaining and building on a strong relationship with the town, he said, as well restoring certain buildings on campus.