Faces of New Canaan

‘More Than a Career’: New Canaan’s Buzz Kanter and His Motorcycles

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New Canaan resident Buzz Kanter purchased his first antique motorcycle around 1986—a BSA M20, from a man selling three of the classic World War II bikes in the pit of a racetrack in New Hampshire. Though only in his early-30s at the time, the Stamford native already was a veteran of New England’s motorcycle scene and circuit. A decade earlier, Kanter had walked away from high-speed racing following an accident on a track in Bridgehampton, N.Y.: A fellow racer, who would spend six months in hospital, crashed into him as they headed into a corner at 130 mph. “I finished the season and said, ‘I’m done,’ ” Kanter, 60, recalled Thursday morning from the gallery at Carriage Barn Arts Center, standing near one of the vintage motorcycles he has acquired since that day in 1986. “And I started playing with antique bikes.

Around Town

Va Va Vroom: Carriage Barn Arts Center Embraces, Celebrates Waveny Heritage in Upcoming Exhibition

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Since starting as co-directors of the Carriage Barn Arts Center 18 months ago, Eleanor Flatow and Arianne Kolb have noted how visitors to the Carriage Barn gallery react strongly when they learn of its original function at Waveny. Though locals tend to know well the grounds, mansion and individual outbuildings at the park, Kolb said, the way that those pieces fit together and tell the story of the Lapham family—the longtime owners of the property through the first half of the 20th Century, who kept horses, carriages and cars in the Barn—animates the familiar landscape and structures in new, profound ways. “When we explain what the space was used for, people have an ‘a-ha’ moment, where it makes sense in the bigger picture,” Kolb said. Starting next month, Carriage Barn Arts Center/New Canaan Society for the Arts will pay homage to that heritage in a new exhibition. “Va Va Vroom!

Government

Park & Recreation Commission by 5-3 Vote Supports Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny

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Parks officials on Wednesday night voted in favor of allowing the Caffeine & Carburetors gathering of classic and specialty auto enthusiasts at Waveny on two Sundays in 2015. Under an agreement between the Recreation Department and town resident Doug Zumbach, owner of a gourmet coffee shop on Pine Street and one of the popular event’s founders, Caffeiene & Carburetors will be held from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m. on May 10 and Oct. 18. Zumbach on Thursday is to go before an administrative team known as the “Special Events Committee” and Board of Selectmen approval is required for the contract. The commission asked Zumbach to ask exhibitors to register in advance (which they’re doing, 370 had signed up by Thursday, he said), restrict the number of cars in the park (460 exhibiting cars can park in Waveny), require a donation to the New Canaan Food Pantry in lieu of an admission fee “somehow work with the vendors and stress in town to promote them,” Chairman Sally Campbell said at the meeting, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center.

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

Park & Rec Hears Proposal for Two Caffeine & Carburetors Events at Waveny

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If approved, twice-yearly Caffeine & Carburetors gatherings at Waveny could require advance registration from participating antique and specialty car owners, as well as a donation of non-perishables to the New Canaan Food Pantry by exhibitors and attendees—a voluntary option last fall. Park & Recreation Commissioner Rick Kilbride said during the group’s regular meeting Wednesday night that making charitable giving a part of Caffeine & Carburetors would be “directionally an extremely appropriate balance for a community like this.”

“I think it could go a really, really long way if everybody participated in that way—in terms of being aware and supporting some of these or one of these specific charitable efforts,” Kilbride said at the meeting, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. “I don’t know how to make that mandatory, but I think there is an implied obligation for every exhibitor and attendee.”

Caffeine & Carburetors founder Doug Zumbach is seeking approval for four events this year—April 19 and Sept. 13 on Pine and Elm Streets, and May 10 and Oct. 18 at Waveny.