Alyssa MacKenzie

Q&A: Residents Launch ‘New Canaan Pride 2021’ for June

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Dozens of rainbow flag signs and window clings featuring the hashtag #NewCanaanPRIDE are appearing on residential and commercial properties throughout town—the result of a local grassroots effort to mark Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or LGBTQ Pride Month here in New Canaan. New Canaan’s Hilary Ormond, Julia Stewart, Marley Thackray, Tami Wilkinson, D.J. Kornell, Alyssa MacKenzie, Shona Goldenberg and an organizing committee of 10 others have launched a “New Canaan Pride” Facebook page that has swelled to 360 members in just two weeks, and have sold dozens of the signs (to cover the cost of producing them). In all, more than 150 lawn signs and 75 window clings have been sold. We put some questions to Stewart to learn about how the idea to bring Pride Month to New Canaan started, how it’s being received and what the organizing group plans. New Canaanite: Tell us about “New Canaan Pride 2021.”

Alex Stewart

Nominations for New Canaan’s ‘Volunteer Recognition Awards’ Open Through Friday

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Representatives for an annual awards ceremony that recognizes New Canaan’s generous volunteers is accepting nominees through 8 p.m. Friday. Individuals can visit this page, linked to through the New Canaan Community Foundation website, to nominate people for various categories of the 2018 Volunteer Recognition Awards, recognizing those who give of their time to benefit others. The people who volunteer in New Canaan are “100 percent and totally committed,” Tracey Karl, a member of the committee that helps organize the awards and ceremony, told NewCanaanite.com. 

“That’s why I love this event,” she said. “I find out about people who I know who volunteer and do things and don’t say anything, they just do it.”

Launched 20 years ago, the Volunteer Recognition Awards since 2015 have been sponsored and overseen by the New Canaan Community Foundation. The awards are specifically designed to spotlight people who have not been recognized for their efforts. 

It’s important to do that, Karl said.

Around Town

Officials Approve Road Closure Downtown for ‘Fall Into New Canaan’ in September

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Town officials voted this month to allow a prominent nonprofit organization to repeat a successful charity event downtown in September. The Young Women League of New Canaan’s “Fall Into New Canaan” will be held on Sept. 8 in the area occupied in past summers by the Pop Up Park, following the Police Commission’s 3-0 vote approving a street closure for part of that Saturday. During its inaugural event last year, Fall Into New Canaan saw 50 stores participate by donating 10 to 15 percent of profits for the day to a chosen beneficiary organization (Meals-On-Wheels), according to Marley Thackray, president of the Young Women’s League. “We had a wonderful day in town,” she told members of the Commission at their regular meeting, held July 18 at the New Canaan Police Department.

Business

‘Fall Into New Canaan’ To Be Held Downtown on Saturday

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One of New Canaan’s most community-minded service organizations is helping to launch an event this weekend that’s designed to bring people together in the downtown to support local merchants while raising money for great causes. “Fall Into New Canaan,” which the Young Women’s League has organized along with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, is to run all day on Saturday Sept. 9. Participating stores are donating up to 15 percent of proceeds to support Meals on Wheeels New Canaan as well as the Young Women’s League’s own “Giving Fund” (read more about the group’s giving here). Marley Thackray, vice president of the Young Women’s League, said the organization “wanted to have an event that involved the whole community and helped enhance the wonderful spirit of this town.”

“What better way to spend a beautiful September Saturday than supporting our local businesses, furthering Meals on Wheels’ important services, and getting together friends and families to enjoy our unique village?” she said.