Who Knew? Valentine’s Day Edition

Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Nobody comes to the leafy Connecticut suburbs for our heart-shaped hot tubs. Not only is their resale value questionable, but surely P&Z has a longstanding regulation against Atlantic City chic. All the same, New Canaan can be the perfect spot for a dreamy date, even when your date is the person with whom you’ve been filing taxes jointly for decades. You can find romance here in a cozy, candlelit meal, a meandering drive down a country road, or playing footsie while you read the parking ticket appeals.

New Canaan ‘Taste Tours’ Set for Thursday

The creators of a popular food-centered event that’s run for seven years in downtown New Canaan say they’ve reimagined it in a way that focuses the experience for attendees as well as merchants. 

To be held 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, the New Canaan ‘Taste Tours’ offer four options for food-lovers, featuring signature bites from local restaurants, wine tasting, dessert and craft and draft beer sampling. Designed in partnership with locally owned Rock Paper Scissors Events, the Taste Tours carry on the tradition of welcoming residents back to New Canaan at summer’s end, according to Laura Budd of the Chamber of Commerce. 

“Adults or couples might choose the beer or wine tour, while larger families or anyone not interested in beer endwise could do the tasting and then families with really young kids could do the dessert tour, which is a much smaller footprint,” Budd said. 

Referring to the predecessor ‘Taste of the Town’ event, Budd said the Taste Tours were “customized to different groups as opposed to just one tour for everyone. 

“I think that we are going for a higher quality experience for both the strollers and the merchants who are so generous with their donations,” she said. A portion of all proceeds will go toward the New Canaan Food Pantry. The four Taste Tours options encompass between four and 12 stops, as follows (purchase tickets here):

“Taste Crawl”—up to 12 stops ($15 now or $20 on the day)
“Dessert Dash”—up to four stops ($10/$15)
“Wine Tasting Trail”—up to six stops ($20/$25)
“Beer Tasting Trail”—up to six stops ($20/$25)

Taste Tour-goers will be identified by a wristband that can be picked up in front of The Playhouse on Elm Street. Those buying same-day tickets may do so in front of The Playhouse starting at 5 p.m. The event is on, rain or shine.