Business

PHOTOS: 2015 New Canaan Sidewalk Sale

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The 2015 Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale from the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce overcame a bit of rain Saturday morning to draw thousands for deals, family fun, live music and food. Anchored at either end of Elm Street by New Canaan mainstays Walter Stewart’s and Karl Chevrolet, and running for segments of Main and Forest Streets, the 50-year-old New Canaan tradition saw scores of local and nonlocal businesses and organizations alike set up tents in all-pedestrian zones in the heart of the village. NewCanaanite.com launched a Facebook contest, asking locals to don wigs, sunglasses and boas and pull a goofy face. Our three winners are:

Gavin Tong—Gavin and his family win a gift card to Connecticut Sandwich Co. on Pine Street.

Around Town

‘Smart, Strong and Special’: New Canaan Camp To Bring Together Girls from Neighboring Communities

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The idea for Camp LiveGirl—that’s a short ‘i’ in ‘Live,’ a verb—came to the West family over the winter. Transformed after hosting a Fresh Air Fund girl from Queens, N.Y. last summer, mom Sheri and dad Brian gathered the kids (Conor, then an 8th-grader, Olivia, 6th and Donovan, 2nd) to discuss how else they could make a difference, now that their Fresh Air Fund guest, Janiyia Rodriguez, had aged out of the program. “We all felt very grateful, but we were cognizant that there are plenty of Janiyias out there, and as a family, we brainstormed about some way we could touch more lives,” Sheri recalled on a recent morning. What was born at that family meeting will materialize next Monday, as 30 middle school-aged girls from Bridgeport and Stamford join 20 similarly aged New Canaan girls for a unique, weeklong camp designed to empower, educate and engage its participants through multiple sports, identity- and confidence-building exercises, camaraderie, healthy living instruction and inspiring and informative speakers. Dubbed ‘LiveGirl’ because the Wests call their daughter ‘Liv’ for short, the camp is not only a deeply personal effort led by Sheri West that follows months of planning—it also results from a coordinated effort across a large swath of the New Canaan community.

News

Letter: ‘Thank You’ to Community from New Canaan Society for the Arts

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The New Canaan Society for the Arts would like to thank our community for its generous support of the successful Spring Gala, Monaco Grand Prix, held on May 16, 2015. The gala, featuring the exhibition Va Va Vroom, Art of the Vehicle, raised $33,000 which will be used to operate the Carriage Barn Arts Center and to provide exhibitions and programming for the public. Guests were greeted with champagne and savory hors d’oeuvres while serenaded by the sultry voice of Marie Michele, the lead singer for French jazz quintet, Oh La La. We would like to thank our attendees, members, donors and sponsors for their generous contributions. The Monaco Co-Chairs Karla Rimmer and Serena Gillespie would like to sincerely thank the event’s committee chairs Catharine Sturgess, Amy Reid and Laura McDaniel for their talent and energy to organize a successful and fun evening.

Business

SLIDESHOW: 20 Things You Only Know If You Shop and Dine in New Canaan

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New Canaanites have plenty of reasons to shop and dine locally, and those reasons go far beyond the fact that the village center has scores of independent businesspeople—retailers, restaurateurs, service providers—who work here and have had a tough go with the weather these past few weeks. Our owners-on-site specialize in their fields and offer a wide range of expertise. They support most every community event that locals associate with the town—fishing derby, Waveny summer concerts, Santa’s visit, little league, Holiday Stroll, ice cream social, Halloween Parade. It’s hard to find two important community events in a row in New Canaan that aren’t sponsored in some way by Walter Stewart’s, Karl Chevy or both. Because familiarity breeds conversation and rapport, we can come to know our local small business owners and workers better than we may at, say, out-of-town chains. The slideshow above is a testament to that strong connection—click through to learn more about some of those who make up the economic lifeblood of the business district.

Around Town

New Canaan’s Top-10 Sandwiches

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There is an amazing ratio of sandwiches to people here in New Canaan. So amazing, that a couple of places (most notably the Best Würst and the Forest St. Deli) closed while we compiled this list. It’s important to note that this specific list was relegated to counter service restaurants or delis only. We are well aware of many of the amazing sandwiches that are served at traditional sit-down restaurants here in town.