Caffeine & Carburetors To Propose Four 2015 Dates, Downtown and at Waveny

Calling Caffeine & Carburetors a safe, responsibly run gathering that benefits the community, aligns with New Canaan’s recreational principles and has earned support from town government, public safety, arts and business leaders, the event’s creators are proposing four dates for a 2015 season.

New Canaanites Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous Pine Street coffee shop where the grassroots event was born, and Peter Bush, as well as Ridgefield’s Todd Brown, are seeking the following Sunday dates and places for this year’s Caffeine & Carburetors:

• April 19—Pine and Elm Streets
• May 17—Waveny Park (in conjunction with the Carriage Barn Art Center’s exhibition “Va Va Vroom! The Art of the Vehicle”)
• Sept. 13—Pine and Elm Streets
• Oct. 18—Waveny Park

Noting that Zumbach covers all costs for the event, the proposal says Caffeine & Carburetors “attracts New Canaan families and visitors from neighboring towns who attend to enjoy cars as well as the charm of the town and its restaurants and shops.”

“Caffeine & Carburetors proved itself to be a responsible and caring steward of Waveny Park by all accounts, with officials observing the event as being a ‘success,’ with ‘people enjoying themselves,’ going ‘very well,’ with ‘no issues or problems,’ being ‘orderly,’ and garnering a ‘tremendous donation for the Food Pantry,’ ” the proposal said.

Zumbach and the architects of Caffeine & Carburetors are expected on Wednesday to propose the 2015 dates and locations to the Park & Recreation Commission—an advisory body. The commission typically hears proposals in one meeting and returns with its recommendation the next.

The proposal includes a history of Caffeine & Carburetors (the trio founded it in 2010) and rundowns of its influence locally and beyond, place in the wider world of car enthusiast shows, appropriateness for Waveny, benefits to New Canaan’s community and businesses, positive press and Op-Ed coverage, and support from key stakeholders in town.

Those include New Canaan’s highest elected official.

First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said in a letter dated Feb. 5 that Caffeine & Carburetors “has become one of those events now synonymous with the town of New Canaan.”

“As a former volunteer with this organization, Caffeine & Carburetors is near and dear to my heart. As First Selectman, I am pleased with the communication and coordination the principals in the Caffeine & Carburetors organization have undertaken with the town to ensure the future success of their events in our community.”

Mallozzi continues: “Over the past two years, much discussion has taken place whereby the number of Caffeine & Carburetors events and their locations seem to be balanced with the overall ebb and flow of other community requests and functions. This year, Caffeine & Carburetors organizers are looking to hold two events in our village and two events in our Waveny Park. I believe this is very much desirable and achievable. Caffeine & Carburetors has my support and I look forward to attending their events over the next many years.”

The event had a transitional year in 2014.

For the first time, it expanded last April from Pine Street to Elm Street, as well, and repeated that operation in May. Afterwards, volunteers, town leaders and public safety officials said that Caffeine & Carburetors had become so popular that holding six events in downtown New Canaan was not feasible—and the immediate future of the show was in question.

It skipped June, July and August, then returned to the downtown in September and—despite a narrow endorsement from the Park & Recreation Commission, received across-the-board backing from a special events committee—and debuted at Waveny in October, earning praise from Recreation Director Steve Benko for a smooth, well-run event.

Little has been said about Caffeine & Carburetors since the fall. Though Zumbach attended and spoke at the November Park & Recreation meeting where Benko praised the Waveny trial, the commission itself did not take up the matter of future events.

Bush in a Facebook post to the Caffeine & Carburetors page this week called for the event’s supporters to rally behind it.

Those supporters appear to include New Canaan Food Pantry Director Carol Harvey, whose is quoted in the proposal reads as follows: “The Food Pantry distributes 550 bags of groceries every two weeks on average. The Food Pantry is reliant on food and financial donations and volunteer help. It takes a village to make this work, and we could not function without people like Doug Zumbach and the C&C group’s contributions.”

Those who signed letters of support for Caffeine & Carburetors —including a form letter that describes the event as “inclusive,” successful and “robust,” are police and fire commissioners, the town Department of Health sanitarian, head of the chamber, fire marshal, Carriage Barn Arts Center, New Canaan Nature Center and several businesses and prominent nonprofit organizations.

Here’ a video from the April 2014 Caffeine & Carburetors, set to an original song by New Canaan Music: