Around Town

Fishing Derby at Mill Pond Scheduled for Saturday Morning

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New Canaan’s young anglers will descend on Mill Pond Saturday morning for one of the town’s most cherished community traditions—the annual fishing derby. Registration will start at 8:30 a.m. for the popular event—a competition for special prizes—and fishing will start at 9 a.m. The fishing derby is open to kids 15 and younger, and 10-and-unders must be accompanied by an adult.

“Personally, it is one of my favorite events because it seems to attract a lot of New Canaan families,” said Tucker Murphy, president of the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan. “It’s a lot of people that we don’t see on a regular basis that come out for it, and I love that. I love to see these kids with all of their little lines, all ready to go, we are so grateful to all of our sponsors. At 9 a.m. they’ll drop the lines in.

Business

Beef Stew for Emergency Responders in Snow Storm: A Legacy Endures at Joe’s Pizza

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Lorenzo Colella awoke Tuesday morning to the same winter storm news as fellow New Canaan merchants: What had been predicted as two feet of snow would come to about half of that total. Despite the still-hazardous road conditions, the Joe’s Pizza owner decided to open at 11 a.m.

And he decided to do something else. “I just thought about these guys being out there and I figure they’re on the roads and need some food, so maybe I can help them out and give them a little extra kick in their step,” Colella told NewCanaanite.com. That kick came in the form of a beef stew, and from a recipe near and dear to the 1995 New Canaan High School graduate. With potatoes, carrots, beef, onions, cumin, rosemary, salt, pepper, thyme and brown gravy, the stew that Colella offered up to New Canaan police, firefighters, EMTs and public works crews was his mother’s.

Around Town

New Canaan Winter Storm Hub: What’s Open & Closed, Photos, Updates

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With up to 12 inches of snow expected in New Canaan, public schools, Town Hall and the library all are closed Thursday. What follows are lists of what’s open and closed in New Canaan—we will update it throughout the day, as we add photos from around town and any pertinent information on road closures and outages. If you run a business or organization in town and want us to share your hours today, please fill out this form (it’s also embedded below):

Open

Walter Stewart’s open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Stewarts Spirits open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Francos Wine Merchants is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Karl Chevrolet is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Weed & Duryea opens at 7 a.m.
Fish Tales open 1 to 7 p.m.
Joe’s Pizza open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Embody Fitness Gourmet is open
New Canaan Toy Store is open
NAPA Auto Parts of New Canaan open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
JAK Handyman is open and on-call for emergencies
Chef Luis is open

Closed

Halo Studios is closed
New Canaan Library is closed
Pennyweights is closed
Baskin Robbins is closed
Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee is closed
Public schools are closed
Town Hall and all other municipal buildings are closed
Pet Pantry is closed
Rand Insurance is closed
New Canaan Racquet Club is closed
Nurenu Brand Marketing’s office is closed though its talented staff is working remotely
Ciel Eau spa is closed
Elm Street Books is closed
Family & Environmental Medicine’s office is closed (available for phone consultations)
Pryority Wellness is closed
Morning classes at Sama Yoga cancelled—stay tuned for the evening
New Canaan YMCA is closed
Station Eats is closed
New Canaan Cleaners is closed

The town is under a Winter Storm Warning from the National Weather Service through 6 p.m. Temperatures will drop into the 20’s and officials warn of dangerous driving conditions with “snow covered roads and poor visibilities,” according to the Upton, N.Y. based weather service. “Blowing and drifting snow is likely,” the agency said. “Local power outages with downed trees and power lines [are] possible.”

News

Annunziata ‘Nancy’ Colella, 66, Loving Wife and Mother, Longtime New Canaanite

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Annunziata Colella, age 66, a resident of New Canaan for over 45 years died Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016 at Norwalk Hospital with her loving family by her side. Born Nov. 5, 1950 in the Marcanise province of Caserta, Italy, she was the daughter of the late Pietro Gaudino and Filomena Musone. She was the wife of Giuseppe (Joe) Colella. Annunziata, better known as Nunzia or Nancy came to the United States in 1971 and immediately joined her husband Joe at their small business, Joe’s Pizzeria in New Canaan.

Business

Love, Laughter and Lasagna: At the Table with Nancy Colella

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[This is the final installment in a four-part series “Matriarchs of Main & Elm,” published in December 2015 and profiling the women behind New Canaan’s great business families.]

Annunziata Colella—known to locals by her Americanized name, “Nancy”—on Tuesday afternoon sat at her long family dinner table in the kitchen of this brick exterior ranch-style house on Main Street, the family’s home since she moved in with a young daughter and husband in 1974. She rested her hands atop a poinsettia tablecloth set with fresh yellow lilies, the doorway connecting to the living room beyond adorned with garlands draped around columns, potted poinsettias on side and coffee tables, tall candleholders in the form of angels placed on the floor, and large framed family photos on a fireplace mantle, beside Christmas cards and stockings. Complimented on her holiday décor, Nancy shook her head and said in the Neapolitan accent that she’s had since she arrived in the United States—and started learning English—in 1971: “Oh, thank you, but this is nothing. I’ve hardly done anything.”

On the contrary. Resilient, warm, intelligent and resourceful, Nancy Colella—wife of Giuseppe “Joe” Colella, founder of Joe’s Pizza—for nearly a half-century has conducted herself at home and at work with a sense of pride, responsibility and commitment that’s transformed a mom-and-pop pizza shop into a cherished New Canaan fixture.