Around Town

‘A Gift That the Residents Give To Each Other’: Support Needed for Holiday Lights Downtown

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One of New Canaan’s best-loved holiday traditions needs a boost to get over the hump this year, officials say. 

The holiday lights—thousands of white lights that are strung through some 60 trees throughout the heart of the business district—are supported solely through tax-deductible donations. 

The head of the organization that leads the effort, the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, Laura Budd, said this year the Foundation is about 65% toward its approximately $26,000 goal. “The municipality does not pay for it—it’s really a gift that the residents give to each other,” Budd said. The lights go up in October—thanks to a reduced rate from Rob Hutchinson (NCHS ‘69, was at Woodstock) and his local business, Hutchinson Tree Care Specialists Inc.—and are turned on two days before Thanksgiving, Budd said. “So they are there to greet all the friends and family who come into town,” she said. “I think it is just a really iconic New Canaan feeling to drive into town, either up Main Street or down South Avenue, and to see the lights in the trees.

Around Town

Donations Needed To Support ‘Holiday Lights’ in Downtown New Canaan

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The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce is calling on residents to support one of the town’s most cherished holiday traditions. The thousands of soft white LED lights that New Canaan’s Hutchinson Tree Care Specialists Inc. for decades has woven into the trees on Elm, Main and Forest Streets, as well as Morse Court, are supported by individual contributions made to a tax-deductible Chamber charitable foundation. Since 2008, residents’ generosity has ensured support for the lights, and the Chamber developed the tax-deductible foundation in recent years. “Let’s be honest, it’s the darkest time of the year and this year that has even more meaning, considering the surge in coronavirus cases,” Laura Budd, the Chamber’s executive director, told NewCananite.com. “And I think when you drive into town and see the lights at night, especially for people shopping or coming off of the train or dining out at one of our restaurants, it’s a really warm and welcoming feeling.

Government

Local Tree Company To Address Pines That Pose Safety Concern along Irwin Park

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Members of the Board of Selectmen at their most recent meeting voted unanimously to approve a contract with a well-established, local tree care company to address what officials say has become a safety concern along a heavily used road and public park. Hutchinson Tree Care Specialists Inc. will prune a long row of tall pine trees fronting Irwin Park along Wahackme Road following a 3-0 vote at the board’s Jan. 23 meeting. Bob Horan told the board that he’s been watching the trees “for a while.”

“The trees are loaded with dead and broken branches and more importantly there are a lot of invasive vines growing up in the crowns of the trees,” Horan said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “For safety, for the future health of the trees and aesthetically, it’s a project that I have been kind of keeping an eye on.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams approved the $9,100 contract.

Business

Chamber: Support Needed for Holiday Lights Downtown

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Officials are calling for locals to support a cherished New Canaan tradition that relies on private funds to take place downtown each year. The white lights that adorn trees on Elm, Main and Forest Streets—and starting this year, Pine Street, as well—cost about $22,000 in hardware and manpower, according to the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. While the town supplies the electricity for the now-100-percent-LED lights, funds must be raised each year to carry those costs. “I think it is one of the things that sets our town apart in the holdaiy season,” Laura Budd of the Chamber told NewCanaanite.com. “It brings a lot of happiness to people—it’s the darkest time of the year, we have the least amount of light and it’s really great to come downtown and see all the trees lit up and the lampposts, too.