Around Town

‘Everyone’s Movie Theater’: New Canaan Playhouse Reopens to High Praise 

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Exactly halfway down Elm Street a historic landmark has been given new life. 

The New Canaan Playhouse Theater’s doors finally reopened following a four-plus-year closure. “We are thrilled that after two years and a lot of hard work and commitment from the taxpayers and private investors, New Canaan now has a beautiful, state-of-the-art theater right at the 50 yard line,” New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Budd said. Through the front doors, the theater boasts an impressive lobby where a balance of history and modern design coexist harmoniously. Upon entrance, individuals can find to their left a beautiful new bar and on the right, a concession stand from which wafts the redolent aroma of freshly popped popcorn. 

“When I attended the opening event last week, everyone was blown away at what the team had done to take this beautiful 100-year-old building and turn it into a modern functioning building,” Budd said.

Around Town

‘They’ll Chew Down Everything’: The Goats Are Back at the New Canaan Nature Center

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Invasive plant species here in New Canaan have met their match … goats! For the second straight summer, the New Canaan Nature Center has introduced goats to help combat invasive plant species in a chemical-free manner. The goats are sourced from a company out of Rhinebeck, N.Y., according to the executive director of the New Canaan Nature Center, Bill Flynn. 

“[The company] does this all over the Northeast,” he said. “They rent [the goats] out who do their work, and then they go back.”

The goats are used primarily to remove an invasive plant called Japanese Knotweed.

Jeanne McDonagh

‘The Art of Drawing’: New Exhibition at New Canaan Library

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Beyond the pristine sliding glass doors, boundless shelves of books and sunlit cafe, the New Canaan Library offers more: community creativity. 

This spring, the library hosted a seven-week drawing workshop for adults called “Art of Drawing.” The workshop was led by retired New Canaan High School art teacher Jeanne McDonagh, an educator here for 32 years. Held on the third floor of the library in the Tate Room, participants received a comprehensive foundation in drawing catered to both beginners and those who wished to enhance their drawing skills further. They learned the vocabulary of drawing and how to work with composition, proportion, perspective, line, gesture, value, and texture. 

Students also learned how to use and explore these concepts to create original works of art. “I would base each week on a skill that would build to the next skill,” McDonagh said.

Dionna Carlson

Residents May Become Responsible for Clearing Their Sidewalks of Snow and Ice

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. New Canaan’s highest elected official wants the town to consider requiring residents to clear snow and ice from sidewalks abutting their homes. At present, the town is required to remove snow and ice from sidewalks outside the downtown area, mandated by ordinance. Despite this, the town is only able to tend to nine of the 20 mandated miles due to staffing and attempts to contain costs within an inflationary budget, officials say. According to First Selectman Dionna Carlson, maintaining all 20 miles would cost something close to another $2 million a year.

Amy Murphy Caroll

Broken Column on White Birch Road To Be Repaired

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. After six months, New Canaan officials are bringing to a conclusion the repair of the conspicuously broken column at the top of White Birch Road. As previously reported, one of the two columns located at the start of White Birch Road (opposite the off-ramp from Merritt Parkway Exit 37 northbound) was struck and damaged by a vehicle last December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

Last Tuesday, during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference, Mann discussed a check he had acquired from the driver’s insurance company. Mann sought the approval of a request from the Department of Public Works to enter into a contract with a repair company to fix the column. “We received a check for the entire amount of $5,350,” Mann said.