Town officials last week approved the use of New Canaan’s most popular park for a car show in the fall.
“Caffeine & Carburetors,” a locally founded auto show featuring antique and specialty cars, is on track to be held Sunday, Oct. 18 at Waveny, following a unanimous vote by the Parks & Recreation Commission.
“This is a great program for New Canaan,” Commissioner Hank Green said during the appointed body’s Jan. 14 meeting, held at the Lapham Center and via videoconference.
C&C Director of Business Development Claire Drexler noted that the 2025 Waveny event raised $27,000 for the Waveny Park Conservancy after netting $24,000 for the nonprofit organization the prior year.
Citing the town of New Canaan’s first responders and the volunteer Community Emergency Response Team, agencies that help run the car show, Drexler said, “The success of the event has been due to a great collaboration and partnership with all involved.”
Commissioners voting in favor included Gene Goodman, Hank Green, Douglas Murphy, Timothy Klimpl, Lindsey Heron, Melany Hearne, Brittney Singer and Jeff Platt. Chair George Benington and Commissioners Susan Lione and David Shea were absent.
Launched outside Doug Zumbach’s eponymous coffee shop in 2009, Caffeine & Carburetors rapidly mushroomed into a hugely popular event that draws thousands of exhibitors and visitors to town. It is now held twice per year—once downtown (in the summer) and then at Waveny in the fall. In addition to Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, sponsoring businesses include Bankwell, Polestar and Land Rover Fairfield. Through a partnership with C&H Auto, the town’s Human Services Department and the New Canaan Community Foundation, the downtown event has raised thousands for the Automotive Assistance Fund, which helps New Canaan residents facing financial hardship with essential car repairs and maintenance.
Asked during the meeting about how well a new system for parking and busing visitors to the show went, Zumbach said it was “successful” despite “minor glitches”—for example, one bus driver didn’t know where Waveny is located.
“We had a golf cart and we were buzzing around the event and went down to the [Steve Benko] Pool passenger pickup area, and 80% really enjoyed having the accessibility of parking elsewhere and coming in by bus,” he said. “I think the major complaint was some wait times. It was not a continuous wait, but some buses seemed to take longer or waited longer at the pickup lot, so we can tweak that. It’s no problem at all.”
Asked whether the format for 2026 would differ much from this past C&C, Zumbach said he’d like to see even more nonprofit organizations pitch tables to promote their work.
“It’s a great audience for the town’s nonprofits,” he said.
Drexler added that at least some nonprofit organizations have been able to raise “not an insignificant” amount of money “just by giving away free coffee when people come by their booth.”
Caffeine & Carburetors—Oct. 19, 2025
Credit: Michael Dinan
