Around Town

New Canaan Public Schools Closed Thursday Due to Hazardous Driving Conditions; Town Under Winter Weather Advisory

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New Canaan Public Schools are closed Thursday as the town is under an urgent winter weather advisory, with snow and sleet expected to create hazardous driving conditions for the morning. The National Weather Service’s advisory is in effect from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, and residents should “plan on slippery road conditions,” the NWS said. “The hazardous conditions could impact the Thursday morning commute,” according to the weather service. 

The advisory continued: “Be prepared for slippery roads. Slow down and use caution while driving. If you are going outside, watch your first few steps taken on stairs, sidewalks, and driveways.

Around Town

Woodlands Restoration Underway at Waveny

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A nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that Waveny continues to thrive launched a conspicuous woodlands restoration project in recent weeks. In planning for the past 18 months, the Waveny Park Conservancy’s project has seen an understory of undesirable invasive plants and shrubs cleared from a wide swath of woodlands located near the southeastern corner of the beloved park, between the Merritt Parkway and Jeniam Meadow. Those include “privet, barberry, multiflora rose, bittersweet vine and others which prevent native shrubs from thriving in our understory,” according to the Conservancy’s executive director, Michelle Crookenden. “Left untended, invasive shrubs quickly overwhelm any of the desirable native species that should typically be present in a healthy Connecticut woodland, which provide food, nesting grounds, and cover for native birds and animals,” Crookenden told NewCanaanite.com in an email. “The Waveny Park Conservancy is supporting this work with a major grant from the Jeniam Foundation.”

Work that’s expected to unfold over a number of years, the restoration project received approval from public bodies including the Town Council and Inland Wetlands Commission in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police at 1:31 p.m. Tuesday received a report of a vehicle stolen from a Mariomi Road home while its owner was unloading groceries. The investigation is active, police said. Here’s a social post from NCPD regarding vehicle thefts:

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It’s almost here: New Canaan Chamber Music’s next concert, titled “Americans in Paris,” will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7 at First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan.

Around Town

‘How Lucky I Am’: New ‘Jim Bach Special Collections Museum’ Opens at NCM&HS

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Mark Markiewicz, an architect and member of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society’s Board of Governors, recalled on Wednesday afternoon how the widely anticipated new structure near the northwestern corner of the campus came to be. Addressing dozens of locals on hand for a dedication of the new building, Markiewicz said that 10 years ago, the Board “began to question the role of the Historical Society in New Canaan and quickly realized that the organization was in reality becoming a museum.”

“It was becoming a place that required public engagement greater than the existing … [Historical] Society offered,” Markiewicz told the gathering. “Thanks to our amazing [Executive Director] Nancy [Geary] and a very forward-looking Board of Governors, the campus blossomed during the ensuing years. Beginning with the highly popular terrace at the side of The Town House, the repainting of the buildings, to new paved walkways and seating areas, the pollinator garden, and of course the recent Bartlett Gallery [Center for New Canaan History], and the superb restoration of the Rogers Studio, the campus acquired a splendid glow, obvious to all. And so the stage was set to complete the northern edge of the campus.