Around Town

How Sunday’s ‘New Canaan Combine’ Will Work [Q&A]

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It’s almost here. The New Canaan Combine is to be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Dunning Field (come down at 9 a.m. for coffee and donuts with New Canaan first responders, courtesy of Dunkin’). Organized by New Canaan’s House of Telos, the Combine will be emceed by New Canaan’s Chris Russo. It’s a friendly athletic competition between the New Canaan Police and Fire Departments that brings in EMTs and members of the community. This year, the Combine benefits the Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer through sponsorships, merchandise sales, donations and a silent auction that went live here on Sunday.

Around Town

Q&A: Talking ‘Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer’ with Yale’s Dr. Stephanie Massaro

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The returning New Canaan Combine—an athletic competition between the New Canaan Police and Fire Departments that also brings in community members to fundraise for a good cause—this year will benefit the Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer. That nonprofit organization, named for a local family’s 12-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and is undergoing treatments, was created following talks with one of her caregivers, Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine’s Dr. Stephanie Massaro. We spoke to Massaro on Sunday. Here’s a transcript of our conversation. ***

New Canaanite: Thank you for carving out some time to talk to me about the Gracie Fund. 

Dr. Stephanie Massaro: My pleasure. 

Before we start talking about your connection here to New Canaan with the Falsettas, could you please, for our readers, just tell us what it is you do and how you came to know the Falsetta family?

Around Town

House of Telos Sponsoring ‘Combine’ To Benefit The Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer [Q&A]

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House of Telos, founder of the New Canaan Combine, is a major sponsor of the 2023 event benefiting the Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer. Created by New Canaan’s Falsetta family—here’s an interview with dad Chris about the effort— the Gracie Fund is named for the Falsettas’ 12-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and is undergoing treatments. House of Telos owner Rebecca Kimball, a 2004 New Canaan High School graduate (podcast here) founded the Combine, a fun athletic competition between the New Canaan Police and Fire Departments that also brings in community members to fundraise for a good cause. We put some questions to Kimball about the Combine and Gracie Fund. Our exchange follows.

Around Town

Plum Plums Cheese To Sponsor ‘Combine’ Benefiting Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer [Q&A]

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A local business has stepped up to help sponsor a community event coming this fall to benefit a special nonprofit organization. Plum Plums Cheese on Cherry Street is “starting line sponsor” for the 2023 New Canaan Combine, benefiting the Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer. Created by New Canaan’s Falsetta family—here’s an interview with dad Chris about the effort— the Gracie Fund is named for the Falsettas’ 12-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and is undergoing treatments. The Combine—organized by House of Telos owner Rebecca Kimball, a 2004 New Canaan High School graduate (podcast here)—is a fun athletic competition between the New Canaan Police and Fire Departments that also brings in community members to fundraise for a good cause. We put some questions to Gayle Martin, who owns Plum Plums Cheese with her husband Michael Riahi, about getting involved with the Combine and Gracie Fund.

Business

PHOTOS: Sidewalk Sale Draws Crowds to Downtown New Canaan

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Scores of bargain-hunters headed to downtown New Canaan on Saturday for the annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale. Crowds of shoppers milled about on Elm, Main and Forest Streets on a warm but mercifully unsticky summer day, flipping through racks and rummaging through tables set out on sidewalks and streets by New Canaan and seasonal merchants. 

“We are thrilled,” said Laura Budd, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the annual Sidewalk Sale. “We have a terrific mix of vendors and organizations here, and Mother Nature has cooperated 100% with some beautiful breezes. We’re really pleased. It’s just a classic New Canaan event.”

One local family, the Falsettas, counted themselves among those sharing information about nonprofit organizations—in their case, the  Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer, which will be the beneficiary of this year’s Oct.