Around Town

PHOTOS: Car Enthusiasts Enjoy ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ at Waveny

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Thousands of auto enthusiasts on Sunday morning attended the locally launched and hugely popular car show that came to New Canaan twice in 2025. Also held downtown in May, “Caffeine & Carburetors”—launched by New Canaan’s Doug Zumbach outside his eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street—has raised tens of thousands of dollars for local nonprofit organizations in the past year. More than 1,300 classic and specialty car owners registered to show their vehicles at the show, Zumbach told NewCanaanite.com as crowds of people clutching cameras and dog leashes moved through the forecourt of Waveny House, surrounding grounds and nearby outbuildings. 

“The weather is terrific and people are really enjoying themselves,” Zumbach said. His own volunteers, New Canaan Community Emergency Response Team or ‘CERT’ members, police and other agencies, and Caffeine & Carburetors is supported by companies that include Bankwell, Garage Living and AK Motorcars. Ashley Guzman, assistant branch manager at Bankwell, said the Cherry Street bank is one of the original sponsors of C&C.

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

‘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.

Around Town

Soggy Conditions at Waveny Prompt Cancellation of Final ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ of 2023

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Heavy rainfall in recent weeks has forced organizers to cancel the final Caffeine & Carburetors car show of 2023. Scheduled for Sunday at Waveny Park, the antique and specialty auto show will not be held and the series will return next year, C&C founder Doug Zumbach said. “I thought about it over this past weekend, and there was really no reason to delay the decision,” Zumbach told NewCanaanite.com on Wednesday from inside his eponymous coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets, where Caffeine & Carburetors began. Zumbach said he’s been visiting Waveny every other day to track conditions, and he grew especially concerned about the forecourt at the main house. “We’re just one of many events that have been canceled due to this rain that we have every weekend,” he said.

Around Town

PHOTOS: Caffeine & Carburetors Returns to Downtown New Canaan

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Thousands of classic and specialty auto enthusiasts visited downtown New Canaan on Sunday morning for the hugely popular Caffeine & Carburetors car show. Founded and run by New Canaan’s Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets, the three-hour event included a new rule this time around, where those showing their vehicles were required to stay to the end of the show. “People seem to be abiding by the new directive—there are a lot of good questions about it, some people have come and turned around because they do want to leave a little earlier,” Zumbach told NewCanaanite.com as police, volunteers and the Community Emergency Response Team or “CERT” directed pedestrians and motorists safely across Park Street on a clear, cool morning. 

“The show is going very well,” Zumbach said. “Very organized, civil. So it seems to be working out nicely.”

Held on all-pedestrian stretches of Pine and Elm Streets, Caffeine & Carburetors featured about 1,500 show cars, Zumbach said.