Francos Wine Merchants

Letter: ‘The Angels of New Canaan Came Together’

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Dear New Canaan,

It’s impossible to find the words to thank you for all the love and support you have given me and my family during my husband Steve’s illness and passing.  Ever since I first arrived New Canaan, I knew it was a special place and this caring community has continued to amaze me.  The angels of New Canaan came together and honored Steve with a beautiful memorial service, a heartfelt procession through town and a lovely reception at Waveny.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. It “took a village” to say goodbye to “Mr. New Canaan”:

Thank you to the First Presbyterian Church for being there for my family and bringing together the community in the beautiful sanctuary. Thank you to New Canaan Fire Company and the Old Faithful Antique Fire Engine company for accompanying my husband with dignity on his final trip through town. Thank you to the NC Police Department, the Ambulance Corps, the Parks Department and Town Hall. Special thanks to Carriage House Catering. We’re so grateful we could put ourselves in your hands to handle the reception, along with Francos Liquors, Gregg’s Garden Center, Karl Chevrolet and Walter Stewart’s Market.

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Town Approves Traffic-Calming Measures on Valley Road at Silver Hill

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Town officials have approve a series of traffic-calming measures on lower Valley Road designed to improve pedestrian safety in the area of a psychiatric hospital whose staff and patients cross the busy street to reach  different sections of its campus. The Police Commission at its March 16 meeting voted 3-0 in favor of installing a sign advising motorists to reduce their speed from 25 to 20 mph in the area of Silver Hill Hospital. At the request of New Canaan-based landscape architecture firm Keith Simpson Associates and with support from police and public works officials, the appointed body also approved moving “Hospital Zone” signs closer to the actual approaches to Silver Hill from both directions, putting in permanent speed sentries to notify motorists of their vehicles’ speeds, painting a single shoulder line along 1,800 feet of campus street frontage and installing pedestrian-activates rapid rectangular flashing beacons or “RRFBs” at two crosswalks there. “Valley Road is a busy road,” Simpson told the commissioners at the meeting, held via videoconference. 

Silver Hill is unique among institutions such as private schools that are set within residential zones in that it is bisected by a road, Simpson said, “which gives SH a unique challenge, really ,and in fact all of us who are interested in public safety.”

“WIth seven buildings on each side of the road there is significant pedestrian traffic in an area of town where, if people are driving along Valley Road who are not necessarily familiar with the fact that there was a campus there and Silver Hill was there and they felt they were just driving along another residential road with cars coming in and out of driveways, they would not expect to find major pedestrian cross-traffic,” Simpson said Simpson. He added that he himself is a resident of the area and drives on Valley Road daily.

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Disorderly Charge for New Canaan Man, 48

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Police late Sunday arrested a 48-year-old New Canaan man and charged him with disorderly conduct. At about 11:02 p.m. on April 3, officers were dispatched to an Old Kings Highway home regarding a domestic dispute between the man and another person at the residence, according to a police report. There, police conducted an investigation and brought the misdemeanor charge. It isn’t clear what the dispute involved, whether it turned physical or whether the arrested man is related to the victim. Police withheld details, saying it’s a domestic matter.

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Coffee’s on for Thursday

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Join fellow residents, business owners and NewCanaanite.com editor Michael Dinan for the monthly Community Coffee, to be held 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 7 in the Art Gallery on the main floor of New Canaan Library. (Please use the entrance overlooking Main and Cherry Streets, pictured below. For those using the disabled spaces in the library lot off of South Avenue, you absolutely may enter using the sliding doors.)

The free, public coffee is a group conversation about what’s happening around town, moderated by Dinan. Topics come from you. It’s presented in partnership with the library, and we serve Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee (thank you, Doug).

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‘As Meaningful a Volunteer Opportunity As I Could Imagine’: New Canaan Fire Company No. 1 Calls for New Members

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One of New Canaan’s most vital and widely recognized community organizations is putting out a call for new members. 

In recent years, a handful of firefighters with the New Canaan Fire Company No. 1 have been hired on as full-time paid members of the New Canaan Fire Department—a testament to the strong relationship between the two entities, though it’s left the volunteer fire service short of its target numbers, officials say. Those who have joined the New Canaan Fire Company in recent years say it offers truly meaningful involvement in the community as well as fun, camaraderie and education. 

Firefighter Steven Kryger joined in November 2020 and has been able to serve as an active volunteer with the organization though he has a full-time job. “Virtually all of our members are full-time students or have full-time jobs—it’s very doable,” Kryger told NewCanaanite.com. “We kind of make it so members of the community can be huge contributors and it fits in with their lives.”

The Fire Company holds drills and meetings on Thursday nights, and there’s an additional one day of training per month (on Tuesdays) during a probationary period for the first year while volunteers are becoming certified as licensed and trained firefighters. 

“Calls can come in any time,” Kryger said.