Around Town

VFW Seeks Volunteers and Donations for Wreath-Laying at Lakeview Cemetery

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Volunteers are wanted to assist VFW Post 653 in New Canaan to lay wreaths at the graves of deceased veterans at Lakeview Cemetery in order to honor and remember their service. All are welcome to participate on Saturday, December 7, in remembrance for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day from 8am to 10am at the Lakeview Cemetery on Main Street in New Canaan. Please gather at the lower veterans section no later than 7:50 a.m. (from the Millport Avenue/Main Street entrance, over the bridge and straight forward). Refreshments will be served. The annual effort is supported financially by the Exchange Club, which provides the wreaths at cost, money raised from poppy sales over Memorial Day weekend and private donations.

Around Town

Lawsuit Challenges P&Z Approval of Parking Structure

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An alternative dispute resolution or ‘ADR’ is scheduled for Wednesday in a civil lawsuit that claims the Planning & Zoning Commission failed in its duties in approving a private school’s applications to install a new turf field atop a proposed parking structure earlier this year, court records show. A process designed to help parties in a civil complaint find resolution without going to trial, the ADR would bring together representatives of 10 plaintiff neighbors of St. Luke’s School with representatives from both the school and P&Z. 

According to a revised complaint filed in August, P&Z’s approval of the private school’s applications was “illegal, arbitrary, and in abuse of the discretion vested in the Commission” in several ways. It violates the local zoning regulations and state law, according to the complaint filed by attorney Joel Green of Bridgeport-based Green and Gross, P.C.

P&Z’s decision also “was not reasonably based upon the record” or “evidence, documents and information” produced by St. Luke’s, and the application itself “misstated and mischaracterized the true state and condition” of the North Wilton Road property, the complaint said.

Around Town

‘You’re Making a Difference’: Local Nonprofit ‘Filling In The Blanks’ Calls for Support of Its Holiday Meal Bag Program

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When New Canaan residents Shawnee Knight and Tina Kramer founded a nonprofit in 2013 to ensure that kids on reduced or free meal plans at their schools had food through the weekend and summer, one of their volunteers voiced concern about what would happen during the holidays. That volunteer, Roseann Conheeney, saw to it that the 100 kids then served by Filling In The Blanks or went home for break in December 2013 with a new backpack filled not only with food but also gifts. Fast-forward 10 years. In 2023, the nonprofit operating out of its Norwalk warehouse put together 5,000 holiday backpacks. 

And this year, they’re doing 9,000—a testament to both increasing food insecurity and to the expanding reach of Filling In The Blanks (the organization’s recently launched mobile food pantry now serves some 1,500 families per month in Norwalk, Stamford and Bridgeport, and has served 659,000 pounds of fresh food since last October). This year, with its nearly 100% increase in demand, Filling In The Blanks is asking the community for donations to help offset the cost for the holiday meal bags that go into the backpacks that their student clients get before setting off for December break (the food costs about $10 per bag, and the organization pays for 99% of the food it packs).

Around Town

‘Remember Some of the Guys’: New Canaan Marks Veterans Day in God’s Acre Ceremony

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Rich Mercado can still feel the hug that his mom gave him on returning from Vietnam. Raised in Spanish Harlem as the son of a cab driver, Mercado was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965 at age 18. “I went to basic training, I went to advanced training, and five months later, I’m in Vietnam,” Mercado recalled Monday morning, addressing more than 200 people gathered at God’s Acre for VFW Post 653’s annual Veterans Day ceremony. “It was so hot, I couldn’t believe it. And boy, did I miss my mom.”

A helicopter crew chief, Mercado and the 10 other young men in the squad were charged with protecting 30 local farms in the Mekong Delta, each of them worked by 10 to 12 family members.

Around Town

‘Happy Hour’ Author Elissa Bass Coming To Playhouse on Wednesday [Q&A]

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Connecticut author Elissa Bass will be at The Playhouse for “Cocktails & Conversation” 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday to talk about her debut novel, “Happy Hour.”

The event—free to register here, limited space—will feature a Q&A with Bass (moderated by me), signature cocktails from “Happy Hour” and book sales/signings. 

The evening is presented by CinemaLab in partnership with Elm Street Books. 

I put some questions to Bass ahead of the cocktail hour (or two). 

Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: Your first novel, “Happy Hour,” was published this spring. What has the last six months been like? Elissa Bass: The last six months have been far beyond what I could have ever possibly imagined. The response I’ve gotten to ‘Happy Hour,’ to KK and Jay’s story, has been incredible, and the support I’ve received from friends – and even total strangers – has been humbling.