‘It’s Something Different’: Activity and Attendance Up at Kiwanis Park, Officials Say

Though no formal numbers are available, officials say Kiwanis Park is seeing a higher level of activity that it has in years. 

Original programming for the Old Norwalk Road park and its special appeal to new residents coming from the city, with its beach and swimming hole, are behind the increase in attendance, officials said during this month’s Parks & Recreation Commission meeting.

“New residents are excited about it,” Recreation Office Manager Bea Watkins said at the July 13 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “It’s something different. They’re coming from the city. The freedom and the basketball and everything else that it offers—they’re thrilled.”

The comments came during Parks & Recreation Director John Howe’s general update to the Commission. 

Commissioner Hank Green said, “I want to give a shout-out to Kiwanis Park. There seems to me there’s a higher level of summery activity there the year, by far, than I’ve ever seen before.”

Howe responded, “I actually don’t have numbers to tell you that but it seems that way to us too.”

Green noted that Recreation Supervisor Steve Dayton has been focused on bringing new activities to Kiwanis. 

Earlier this year, Howe said that movies and new water activities were being contemplated for the park. 

Commissioner Francesca Segalas said that events at Kiwanis “have been well attended and are all the rage.”

Last month, officials approved a proposal to allow a food truck to offer concessions there.

Howe said during the meeting that the town is still working on food truck. One vendor had been set to go when one of their trucks broke down, so the plan was to get them in for a weekend soon.

The upbeat news and activity at Kiwanis marks a dramatic turnaround for the 13.8-acre space that had been contemplated for drastically new uses in the months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, led by New Canaan’s highest-elected official.

In January 2020, after ridding a town-owned, two-bedroom apartment in Kiwanis Park of its tenants, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said the structure could be used for YMCA summer camp operations under a new public-private partnership. Moynihan declared Kiwanis “an expendable area” of town spending. He tried to eliminate nearly all funding for Kiwanis, and after fellow members of the Board of Selectmen restored it so that recreation officials have a chance to reinvigorate the park under a reduced-hours schedule, Moynihan suggested the playground at Kiwanis be moved to Waveny Pool (it wasn’t). That summer, as the pandemic set in and state officials issued guidance for the restricted use of public facilities, the Town Council narrowly approved a new lease agreement with the Y (Moynihan broke a 6-6 tie within the legislative body). Residents during public hearings at the time challenged plans to grant the Y exclusive access to the park, citing the property’s deed as well as the lease amount. (A lease with the Y recently was approved for $10,000 for the first year and $15,000 the next.)