Letters to the Editor

NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letters to the editor. ***

Editor, New Canaanite:

When I sit down at the small memorial plaza in Mead Park, I am surrounded by beautiful flower beds along the memorial walk. While enjoying them, I also think of the more than two hundred (200) hanging flower baskets along Elm Street and the big planters at the entrance to Town Hall. Then I remember seeing the ladies in the yellow shirts weeding and planting at thirty-three (33) triangles at intersections. 

Who are those dedicated hard workers who never tell us who they are? The display window of the Chamber of Commerce next to the movie theater identifies them as the more than two hundred (200!) devoted volunteers of the New Canaan Beautification League.

Letter: The New Canaan Beautification League’s Important Work

Living in New Canaan, we are all attuned to the changing of the seasons, and the season of growing is fast approaching. With that in mind, we hope you will donate to support the New Canaan Beautification League. Every dollar goes towards our year-round efforts to keep New Canaan beautiful, blooming, and buzzing. Have you ever stopped by the mailboxes on Pine Street and noticed the bees enjoying our pollinator-friendly garden, planted with strategic (and stunning) seasonal blooms? That’s us.

Upcycled Yard Clippings and a Can-Do Attitude: How to Make the Holidays Happen in New Canaan [VIDEO]



It would be undoubtedly easy to order our town’s holiday decorations from a big box store or, gasp, the Internet. Surely there’s an iPhone app somewhere where one can pick a look, pay through the nose for rush installation, and find oneself walking through a ready-made winter wonderland. Santa in an Uber, and all that. 

But isn’t it reassuring to know that New Canaan will never do it that way? 

In early December, for the past five decades, the New Canaan Beautification League and the New Canaan Garden Club have partnered to hold our town’s Holiday Greens Workshop at the Nature Center. Several dozen volunteers from both clubs make many of our town’s holiday decorations from scratch, upcycling pruned branches and clippings into the extra-large bespoke wreaths you’ll spot on our town’s municipal buildings throughout December. Trees and shrubs like white pine, holly, ilex, juniper, and spruce can benefit from pruning at this time of year, so generous members, private tree services, and our town’s Parks department gather and donate a bounty that befits New Canaan’s holiday spirit.