Around Town

PHOTOS: Caffeine & Carburetors Comes to Downtown New Canaan on Sunday

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Thousands of car-lovers packed into New Canaan on Sunday morning for this year’s downtown installment of “Caffeine & Carburetors.”

Through a drizzle on an otherwise comfortable day, visitors to the car show launched by New Canaan’s Doug Zumbach—owner of the eponymous coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets—stopped to admire specialty and classic autos, take photos and videos, and chat with owners and vendors on Elm and Pine Streets, closed for pedestrians. “It’s going wonderfully,” Zumbach said as C&C was in full swing. “It proves one thing: That we have a very dedicated ‘fan base,’ you could say. Appreciative of everyone who has come out—sponsors, car owners, pedestrians. It’s just a wonderful show.

Around Town

‘We Have a Guardian Angel’: New Program Helps Locals Struggling with Auto Repair and Maintenance Costs

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New Canaan residents struggling with car-related costs can now get help through a new partnership involving the town, a nonprofit organization and local businesses. Caffeine & Carburetors—the antique and specialty car show launched by town resident Doug Zumbach outside his eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street—last year raised tens of thousands of dollars for the New Canaan Community Foundation and Waveny Park Conservancy. This year’s downtown C&C, scheduled for June 22, will direct all show funds—including those raised through its registration system—toward a new program that helps qualified New Canaanites with car maintenance and repair costs. 

“When we were thinking about the best use of these funds, we really wanted to make sure that it was going back into our community, and to support local families in one way or another,” C&C Director of Business Development Claire Drexler said. “And we felt like this, with the automotive tie-in, was the perfect way for us to give back to New Canaan, which has been so gracious in allowing us to continue to host this event.”

There are two Caffeine & Carburetors shows scheduled for this year, June 22 (downtown) and Oct. 19 (Waveny).

Around Town

Parks & Rec Approves Oct. 19 Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny

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The Parks and Recreation Commission last week voted unanimously in favor of an Oct. 19 date for the Caffeine & Carburetors 2025 Waveny Park car show. While the popular car show will function similarly to past years, the 2025 show will take additional steps to alleviate congestion by expanding visitor parking to the downtown commuter lot and Talmadge Hill, in addition to requiring visitors to register for parking in advance, according to Claire Drexler, director of business development at C&C and Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street, where the event was born. 

Buses will be provided for visitors parking outside of Waveny, she told Parks & Rec during its regular meeting, held March 12 at Lapham Center and via videoconference. “You must register to come to this event,” Drexler said during her presentation. “It’s grown to the size where we need people to know where they’re going in advance.”

To help manage traffic flow, unregistered vehicles arriving at Waveny on Oct.

Around Town

‘A Significant Partnership’: Caffeine & Carburetors Raises $16,000 for NCCF

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What New Canaanites know today as “Caffeine & Carburetors” had a short test run in 1995, outside of Doug Zumbach’s eponymous coffee shop on Grove and Pine Streets. It was a small gathering of just 30 cars and, though it was fun, the event was halted for several years—until about 15 years ago, when Zumbach resurrected the gathering of auto enthusiasts in what has become what he calls “the modern day Caffeine & Carburetors.”

This year, the town approved two of the hugely popular shows—one held downtown on June 16, and another planned for Oct. 20 at Waveny. For the first time in C&C history, that first show raised significant funds for a respected New Canaan nonprofit organization—a longtime goal of Zumbach’s. The Zumbach’s/C&C director of business development, Claire Drexler, said, “We’re so excited that the event has grown to this size where we’re able to leverage it in a way that gives back to the community, and we are really excited to continue to do so in the future.”

Last week, Drexler and Zumbach presented the New Canaan Community Foundation with a $16,000 check.

Government

Parks & Rec Pushes Back on June ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ in Waveny; Oct. 20 Event Approved

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The chair of the New Canaan Parks & Recreation Commission said Wednesday night that a proposed June 2 date for the popular Caffeine & Carburetors car show in Waveny is problematic. Hosting the specialty and antique auto show in the spring “has been filled with a lot of issues that we’ve heard from the town,” according to George Benington. 

“Those issues need to be resolved before they come back to us,” he said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held at Lapham Community Center and via videoconference. “There’s a lot of opposition based on concerns about the field that time of year with the weather and what not. So we cannot vote on June tonight.  We can vote on October, but not June. … I think we all agree that this is a great event.