Did You Hear … ?

A senior member of the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church congregation tested positive for COVID-19 virus, according to a post from the Rev. Peter Walsh on the church’s website. The individual’s family is quarantined, and as a protective measure so is a pastor from the church who had visited them, Walsh said. (The pastor is asymptomatic.) St. Mark’s will not gather in person for at least two weeks, through March 29, Walsh said in the post. “The family are deeply faithful people and, in humility, have asked us to pray both for their beloved who is sick in bed and that they may be healthy and have strength to meet the days ahead,” Walsh said. “I remind you that anonymous prayers are known to our Lord who delivers them to a holy end. I have no doubt that our collective prayers will be transformed by the grace of God to hold these beloved people in the unseen arms of divine love.”

New Canaan’s churches have arranged to ring their bells together at 6 p.m. nightly for the foreseeable future, as the community navigates what follows from COVID-19. Many families are now home together and “we wanted people thinking and praying together for the community,” the Rev. Dr. Stephen Chapin Garner of The Congregational Church of New Canaan told NewCanaanite.com. The joint effort is designed to “let folks know that even though we are not able to gather, we will proclaim our faith and connection to each other,” he said.

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Organizers have canceled the first Caffeine & Carburetors gathering of 2020 due to COVID-19. Scheduled to debut April 19 in downtown New Canaan, the auto show now is planned to start May 19 with two more dates to follow, according to founder Doug Zumbach, owner of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street. “I have to consider the wellbeing of everyone involved in the event, from participants to residents to police to the EMTs to my volunteers,” he said. “Everyone involved. And you know the proximity—we are packed down here, so I just don’t want to take that chance. In reality it’s just a car event. Health and wellbeing are much more important to me.”

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The Historical Review Committee during a special meeting Thursday voted 5-0 to elect Mark Markiewicz as chair, and Rose Scott Rothbart as secretary.

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Karl Chevrolet is sponsoring the blue color station and New Canaan Community Foundation is sponsoring the orange color station for the NC Color Run on April 25, the New Canaan High School Scholarship Foundation announced.

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A logistics consultant hired by the Board of Education said the proposed start time for elementary schools under a revamped busing schedule could be improved by five minutes. The “bell time” at East, South and West Schools could be as late as 7:50 a.m.—rather than 7:45 a.m., as perviously thought—given the number of buses the district could have next academic year, the consultant said during the Board of Ed’s regular meeting Monday. The proposed change to school start times would see students in grades seven through 12 start at 8:30 a.m., in line with medical recommendations.

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New Canaan Police at 7:56 p.m. on March 6 cited a 21-year-old Norwalk man for possession of less than .5 ounces of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia after stopping him on Main Street with his headlights off.

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New Canaan Music has been nominated in the categories of Music Lessons and Children’s Music Lessons in Moffly Media’s annual Best of the Gold Coast contest. Vote here through March 15.

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Sunday’s planned St. Patrick’s Day Dinner & Social from the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan was canceled. Grace Farms is among the local organizations that has been closed to the public until further notice. 

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For your calendar:

• The Children’s School is holding an Open House from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 3 (ages 3-8).
• The Glass House tour season will run April 16 to Dec. 15.
• The New Canaan Police Department is preparing to run its popular Civilian Police Academy. It will run over nine sessions—6 to 9 p.m. every Thursday from April 9 to June 11. Spots are limited. Click here for more info.

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While food banks in Connecticut are struggling during the COVID-19 outbreak, New Canaan High School Service League of Boys members collected 92 bags of food last weekend at their general meeting to donate to Person-to-Person and the Triangle Community Center, both in Norwalk. So far this school year, SLOBs has collected 337 bags of food and essentials.