Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Friends and family of a 2009 New Canaan High School graduate who died suddenly this summer honored their loved one at a fundraiser on Saturday. Participating in a rappelling event in Stamford to raise funds and awareness for Shatterproof, “Team E” was named by Andrea Reinhardt for her brother Evan, who passed in July at age 24. Together with fellow New Canaanite Miles Turpin, Sara Sparks of Fairfield and Dan Egan of Norwalk, “Team E” rappelled 21 stories down Landmark Square as part of Shatterproof’s national movement to fight drug and alcohol addiction. With offices in Norwalk and New York City, Shatterproof is holding 26 rappelling events nationally this year. ***

Two miniature ponies from Comstock Hill Road got loose on a recent evening and ran in the road to a nearby residence.

Around Town

Caffeine & Carburetors Coming Sunday; Future Location Unclear

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Downtown New Canaan on Sunday will host the extremely popular classic and specialty automobile gathering Caffeine & Carburetors—the second installment of the grassroots event this year—though it isn’t clear just whether or where the rest of the 2014 season will take place. Officials have roundly praised the architects of what has become a multi-state draw that brings upwards of 5,000 people to the heart of New Canaan on a Sunday morning: town resident Doug Zumbach (owner of the eponymous gourmet coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets) Peter Bush and Todd Brown. Yet with its growing popularity, town officials have said questions on logistics, safety and town resources must be addressed before issuing more Special Events permits for Caffeine & Carburetors. “We’re kind of reaching a point where this wonderful idea—and it’s worked out great, I could not have been happier the way it worked out the first Sunday it happened—we’ll see how it goes this time and I’m cautiously predicting that it might be difficult to pull it off six times a year,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said. “It might not be fair to the entire town of New Canaan to have it take place in that venue, our whole downtown, six times a year.

Government

Police Commission Wants Caffeine & Carburetors Town-Run

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The grassroots Caffeine & Carburetors gathering of classic car enthusiasts in New Canaan has grown so popular that it should be viewed as a town-run event with more formal planning and execution, officials said Wednesday. About 700 cars and 4,000-plus people—automobile owners and spectators—came to the 2014 debut of Caffeine & Carburetors two Sundays ago, members of the New Canaan Police Commission said at a meeting held in the department’s South Avenue headquarters. Though feedback was widely positive, a post-mortem on the event unearthed several changes that could be made, including whether Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee continues to play the very same role. “In principal, I would be very supportive of the event. But the feeling I get is that at this point it’s gotten so big that it really is a town event,” Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini said.