Government

Parks Officials Approve Waveny ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ with New Registration System

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Parks officials at a recent meeting voted unanimously to support more tightly controlled Caffeine & Carburetors auto enthusiasts gatherings this summer and fall at Waveny. The June 17 and Oct. 21 events will see a new online registration system for classic and specialty “show” cars as well as designated parking in the New Canaan High School lots for spectators of the popular event—steps designed to address concerns from town officials when some 1,500 cars descended on Waveny for the most recent Caffeine & Carburetors there in the fall of 2016. Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell said at the group’s Feb. 14 meeting that an agreement between the town and event founder Doug Zumbach—owner of the eponymous gourmet coffee shop on Pine Street where Caffeine & Carburetors was founded—has been updated to reflect the changes.

Around Town

‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ To Return: Organizers Seek Four Dates in 2018

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The New Canaan founder of Caffeine & Carburetors, the hugely popular grassroots gathering of specialty and classic auto enthusiasts, said Wednesday night that he’s seeking to hold four events in 2018. Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street where Caffeine & Carburetors began with just 50 cars eight years ago, told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission that he’s seeking two dates at Waveny and two downtown. “We are deciding to come back this year after taking a year off,” Zumbach told commissioners at their regular meeting, held in Lapham Community Center. New this year, Zumbach said, will be an online registration system for car owners seeking to participate in the show, possible mobile app, increased insurance policy for the event (doubled to $2 million) and lecture series at New Canaan Library that touches on topics such as car restoration and teenage driving. The specific dates that Zumbach is seeking are April 22 (downtown), June 17 (Waveny), Sept.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Grace Farms is featured in a Connecticut Magazine news story that quotes locals extensively. ***

New Canaan Police on Dec. 24 arrested a 36-year-old Park Street woman and charged her with failure to respond to an infraction. She had been cited for motor vehicle charges and did not pay or plead in court. ***

New Canaan Land Trust officials are calling for volunteers to help check bobcat traps that the state is laying in New Canaan as part of a program to track the animals.

Around Town

PHOTOS: Thousands Come To Downtown New Canaan for Lone ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ of 2017

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An estimated 1,000-plus classic and specialty cars drew thousands of auto enthusiasts to downtown New Canaan on Sunday morning for 2017’s sole installment of Caffeine & Carburetors. Founded by New Canaanite Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous gourmet coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets, the popular gathering on an overcast fall day touched by humidity saw crowds ogle and photograph rare, well-preserved and restored cars on pedestrian-only sections of Pine and Elm Streets from (about) 8 to 11:30 a.m.

Zumbach, who organizes the event with Peter Bush, Todd Brown and a team of volunteers, said the turnout was “beyond our expectations.”

“We don’t have a count but I would say in excess of 1,000 cars,” he told NewCanaanite.com during an interview as the show was underway. “I think we have over 300 Porsches on Elm alone. So I think the count could be above 1,000. Crowd count, I don’t know.”

The sheer number of auto appreciators milling about downtown New Canaan, many of them toting balloons and walking children and dogs, spoke to the great desire for participants to gather and share their love of cars.

Business

Sidewalk Sale: Return of Caffeine & Carburetors Announced as Throngs of Bargain-Hunters Hit Downtown New Canaan [PHOTOS]

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Scores of bargain-hunters descended on downtown New Canaan on a tolerably warm Saturday for the 52nd annual Village Fair and Sidewalk Sale. Merchant booths on Main, Elm and Forest Streets sold out well ahead of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s deadline, and shoppers moved through areas cordoned off for pedestrians to peruse racks of clothes and tables of goods, visiting the Pop Up Park for live music and food and riding on “zippy pets” where Karl Chevrolet and the New Canaan YMCA set up at Main and Elm. “The weather is going to be great—it’s not 99 degrees,” Chamber Executive Director Tucker Murphy said. “This is all good.”

Doug Zumbach, owner of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street, in the afternoon announced that Caffeine & Carburetors—originally ruled out for 2017—would make a special return to downtown New Canaan on Sunday, Sept. 17.