Around Town

Family Fourth Committee Seeks To ‘Change the Culture,’ Encourage Attendees To Purchase Event Passes

By |

The volunteers who help manage traffic at the Waveny fireworks estimate that 40 percent of motorists who park at the three nearby schools do not display event passes in their vehicles, and that an additional 10 percent who park at Waveny itself also appear not to have purchased a pass. It’s a practice that Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth Committee, said he would like to change. _______________________________________________

The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Baskin-Robbins. _______________________________________________

The committee wants to dispel what is “ingrained in the culture,” Stadler said—that the pass is a parking pass. Those walking in and even those who park at South School, Saxe Middle School, and New Canaan High School should purchase the $35 event pass, he said.

Around Town

Family Fourth Organizers To Bring In Food Trucks for Waveny Fireworks

By |

The volunteer committee that organizes the annual Waveny fireworks is pursuing a plan that will bring diverse new food options to New Canaan and area families attending the popular picnic and nighttime show. Though details have yet to be worked out, members of the New Canaan Family Fourth Committee said seven food trucks, including one with desserts, will serve attendees at the Monday, July 4 event. Joining mainstays Exchange Club and Garelick & Herbs, which will continue to provide beverages and some foods, the trucks will offer pizza, grass-fed burgers, lobster rolls, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, tacos and ice cream, according to committee member Suzanne Jonker, who developed the idea. “It’s convenient. It’s fun,” Jonker told NewCanaanite.com.

Government

‘Waveny House Committee’ Appointed To Help Determine Future Use of Cherished Public Building

By |

Faced with numerous and expensive baseline repairs that are needed to get Waveny House running as an ADA-compliant public building, town officials on Tuesday appointed a committee that will help determine just how the cherished New Canaan structure should be used. The “Waveny House Committee” is expected to recommend whether the 1912-built home continues to house the Recreation Department, operate more extensively as a paid special events venue, serve as a storage space or perform other functions—a wide range of possibilities that could shape the scope of New Canaan’s capital investment in the facility (more on that below). The committee will consist of Bill Holmes, Suzanne Jonker, Steve Parrett and Penny Young, members of the Board of Selectmen said during their regular meeting, with Recreation Director Steve Benko, Parks & Recreation Commission Chairman Sally Campbell and DPW Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann to join at some point. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said: “There is an attempt to identify some dollars that we can go to the public with over the next two or three years to do an improvement on Waveny House, and we all thought it was important that we just don’t take what is there and redo it, but we should have input as to what the usage should be of that house, how it functions, what the parameters are for the usage of that house.”

The committee is not a “building committee” (which is formed to study, recommend and oversee a specific capital project) and is different from the nonprofit Waveny Park Conservancy, a private group that’s focused on Waveny’s grounds, specifically in the southwest quadrant of the park. Selectman Beth Jones said it was “great to have” Holmes on the committee—he’s a member of the Conservancy, too, as a representative from the New Canaan Preservation Alliance.