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

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.

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

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.