Around Town

‘A Saturday Morning Tradition’: New Canaan Farmers Market To Open April 11

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Municipal officials on Tuesday approved the 2026 season for what has rapidly grown into a downtown tradition in New Canaan. The New Canaan Farmers Market will run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays in the Lumberyard Lot next to the train station from April 11 to Dec. 19, following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen. “The Farmers Market has been a nice addition,” Selectman Steve Karl said during the elected body’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He continued: “It’s become a Saturday morning tradition in town and it attracts a lot of folks over there. Traffic has been flowing in and out of  there fine.

Government

Take Two: ‘Scene One New Canaan LLC’ To Operate Playhouse Movie Theater

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Town officials this week approved a lease with a Delaware-based limited liability company to operate The Playhouse. The Town Council and Board of Selectmen both voted unanimously in favor of a five-year lease with Scene One New Canaan LLC. Joseph Masher, representing the company, told the selectmen during their regular meeting Tuesday that he is sole owner of Scene One Entertainment, formerly Bow Tie Management. “For 20 years I was the chief operating officer of Bow Tie Cinemas,” Masher said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So I have extensive experience with the old Playhouse and I’m very excited to be back, and what you’ve done with the Playhouse—making it into its current iteration—it’s amazing and my goal is to make sure that it is a centerpiece, is the centerpiece of town and the beacon of Elm Street.”

According to the Scene One website, the Schenectady, N.Y.-based company currently operates six movie theaters in four states, including New York.

Board of Selectmen

Board of Selectmen Approves $186.9 Million Budget

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The first of New Canaan government’s three funding bodies voted unanimously last week in favor of a spending plan for the town for next fiscal year. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of a budget of about $186.9 million for the 12-month period starting July 1—an approximately 3.3% increase over current spending. The budget “does not consider projected revenue that we will have greater visibility into during the Board of Finance and Town Council reviews,” according to First Selectman Dionna Carlson. “The Board of Selectmen’s approved budget reflects a commitment to holding the line on spending while maintaining services for town residents and continuously seeking improvements and efficiencies,” Carlson said in a statement. “While we have a strong start to the budget, reduced revenue from financial instruments is increasing the amount to be raised by taxation to 5.3% and a year-over-year mill rate increase of 6%.”
As it stands, the spending plan for fiscal year 2027 includes a Board of Education operating budget of $118.3 million (up 3.9%), town operations expenses of $35.3 million (up 2%), debt service of $18.2 million and tax-supported capital projects of $1.4 million.

Government

Parking Downtown: Town Weighs Changing Main Street to Paid Spaces

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Town officials say they’re thinking about installing eight more parking kiosks in downtown New Canaan, on Main Street and possibly part of Locust Avenue. An expansion of the new paid system that took effect on Elm Street and South Avenue in October, the kiosks on Main would cost $90,774, officials said during Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. At first, the town didn’t think it would be able to convert Main from two-hour to paid spots, according to First Selectman Dionna Carlson. “We didn’t think we could do it on Main because it’s a state road, and then in further discussions realized that you can, because it’s not part of the roadway,” Carlson said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So it’s just a discussion to start and if we even want to potentially pursue those, we’d have to have it in the budget.”

If added to the budget, the approximately $90,000 cost for the kiosks would be bonded, town Budget Manager Ryan Stacy said. 

The comments came during a discussion of capital projects in the area of “general government”—namely, the Affordable Housing Committee ($225,000 proposed for professional fees), Information Technology and Parking.

Around Town

New Canaan Library Working Toward Proposed Uses for 1913 Building

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New Canaan Library has started planning for a new use or uses of the 1913 building, a sealed structure on the western edge of the organization’s campus. Preserved and moved 115 feet from its original location as part of a Planning & Zoning Commission requirement as the “new” library building project that wrapped up three years ago, the legacy building has been used — on its exterior — as the site of a “Changemakers” art installation since 2024. (The building’s 115-foot relocation cost about $2.4 million.)

“We have formed some committees,” library CEO Ellen Sullivan Crovatto told members of the Board of Selectmen during a Jan. 20 budget presentation, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “We have begun a lot of work around how we see using the space.