Around Town

New Canaanites Gather at Lakeview Cemetery To Honor Veterans 

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Dozens of New Canaanites gathered at Lakeview Cemetery on Saturday to plant more than 1,500 flags honoring every locally interred veteran who has served the United States in both combat and non-combat positions. Organized on behalf of VFW Post 653 by New Canaanites Chris and Frances Wilson, the community event saw residents come together on a beautiful May morning to honor our veterans. “This is one of the greatest events the town puts on,” Post 653 Commander Mike McGlinn said. “There are about 200 people and 20 community groups who come together to help out the VFW… It’s a tremendous thing for a small town like New Canaan to have this done.”

The New Canaan Fire Department, New Canaan Police Department, Boy Scout troops 45, 31 and 70, Cub Scout packs 70, 45 and 7, Girl Scouts of New Canaan, SLOBs, Democratic and Republican Town Committees, New Canaan YMCA, New Canaan Chapter of the National Charity League, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Hannah Benedict Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The gravestones with flags is the setting in which the annual Memorial Day observance ceremony is held.

Around Town

Library Board: CEO and President Resigns

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The CEO and president of New Canaan Library has resigned after four months in the position, according to a press release issued by the organization’s Board of Trustees. Bob Butman, chair of the Board, said that the director, Kim McNally, “is an exemplary librarian and we wish her well in her decision to pursue a new course.”

She started Feb. 1 and her resignation is effective May 31, the press release said. The press release said that “[d]uring this transition period, management of the library will be led by Ellen Sullivan Crovatto, VP of External Affairs & Philanthropy and Cheryl Capitani, VP of Operations, each of whom has a tenure of 10-plus years at the Library.”

Butman said in the release, “The Library is in excellent hands. We are all deeply grateful for and confident in the continued skillful guidance this experienced leadership team provides.”

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police are investigating two more instances of graffiti in town: spray paint on a fence near train tracks behind an Old Studio Road home (complaint received at 9:35 a.m. on May 11) and graffiti on a garbage can in front of Joe’s Pizza on Locust Avenue (11:45 a.m. on May 9). ***

The annual sale is on at Black Creek Designs on Grove Street: 20% off all furniture in inventory—from the business’s homepage, hover over “Portfolio” and select “Available”—through June 15. Here’s some background on furniture designer/maker Tom Throop, owner of Black Creek Designs and a 1982 New Canaan High School graduate. He’s been in business since 1992. ***

Staying Put in New Canaan’s “Summer Soirée” will be held at 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 6 at Waveny House.

Around Town

New Canaan Library To Launch ‘Changemakers’ Installation at 1913 Building

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As New Canaan Library prepares to take on the final phase of its remade campus—identifying a function for the 1913 building—it is also using the historic structure for a new art installation. 

And it’s partnering with one of the town’s most important local nonprofit organizations to do it: The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. 

NCM&HS this month is launching the new Jim and Dede Bartlett Center for New Canaan History. It’s built around a theme of “Making a Difference”—the people, businesses, and events that have shaped  the community. As part of the permanent exhibition, the Museum has an interactive console of 50 New Canaan residents who had a significant impact on the town. Officials from the library looked at the images and biographies and selected six to feature in the windows of the legacy building. “The New Canaan Museum was happy to be the library’s partner in celebrating the lives of transformative New Canaan residents,” said Nancy Geary, executive director of NCM&HS.

Around Town

Quiet Heroes of New Canaan: Michele Ayoub

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Michele Ayoub has been donating Mother’s Day tulips to Staying Put in New Canaan members since the start of the pandemic, according to the popular nonprofit organization. A mom who appreciated the support she received from neighbors during her pregnancy and baby-rearing, Ayoub began growing the flowers as Mother’s Day gifts for those same neighbors, as well as family and friends, and even threw a “tulip party,” according to Gina Blum, executive director of Staying Put. 

The annual yield is now up to some 3,000 to 4,000 tulips “that she plants every year and during COVID she did not have the party, so she found Staying Put in New Canaan and other organizations who deliver them to seniors, and she continued with us each year,” Blum said by way of nominating Ayoub for the “Quiet Heroes” series. Founded in 2008, Staying Put in New Canaan helps local seniors live independent, active and engaged lives as they grow older. (The organization’s “Summer Soirée” will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 6 at Waveny House—details and tickets here.)

According to Robin Bates-Mason, Staying Put’s manager of events and volunteers, the organization gets calls from its members thankful for the flowers. “They’re so appreciative of it and how pretty and unique they [the tulips] are,” Bates-Mason said.