Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A White Oak Shade Road resident on Wednesday morning used a spade to kill an apparently sick raccoon that had tussled with a neighbor’s Vizsla. The man had spotted the raccoon stumbling around outside just as his neighbor unknowingly released the Hungarian-breed dog. The Vizsla yelped during the animals’ scuffle and later exposed a second dog inside its owner’s house to the possibility of disease through contact with the raccoon, so they’re both on a 45-day strict home confinement while the dead raccoon’s brain is being tested for rabies, according to Officer Allyson Halm of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. Those results should be available this week, she said. ***

Originally scheduled to open in April, Hasi Sushi—the Japanese restaurant that’s going in on Forest Street in the old Peachwave space—now is set for a launch next month, we’re hearing.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Our senior intern from NCHS, Sam Stoner, took the photos in the gallery above at the launch party for “Beat Shazam,” the new game show on FOX that’s hosted by Jamie Foxx and co-produced by him as well as New Canaan’s Rich Riley, CEO of Shazam. The party was at The Water’s Edge in Darien on Thursday night and hundreds attended. ***

East Avenue favorite Fish Tales temporarily closed in March for an extensive renovation—and the fish and seafood shop reopened this week under a new name, “La Pescaderia Fish Market & Arepa.”

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About two hours after putting out a fire on Hoyt Street Wednesday morning that appeared to have been ignited after cats switched on a gas stove, emergency responders were called out for another feline-related incident: A cat was stuck up a tree on Lost District Drive. ***

Six residents of eastern New Canaan reported seeing a black bear last Thursday morning, at bird feeders and garbage cans on Rocky Brook, Knollwood, Benedict Hill and Evergreen, according to the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department. ***

Motorists traveling on Route 106 in New Canaan after 1 p.m. Monday came across a tree and wires down across the road near Weed Street.

Around Town

Connecticut Trust Honors New Canaan’s Mimi Findlay, Janet Lindstrom for Work in Historic Preservation

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A prominent state organization has honored two New Canaan women for their decades-long and far-reaching work in historic preservation. Janet Lindstrom, recently retired executive director of the New Canaan Historical Society, has received the Jainschigg Award from the Hamden-based Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, while the organization created a new award honoring Mimi Findlay, co-founder and chairman emerita of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance. The ‘Mimi Findlay Award for Young Preservationists’ will recognize individuals or groups of people 35-and-younger involved in preservation of historic buildings, districts, landscapes or sites in Connecticut. Asked how she feels about the honor, Findlay told NewCanaanite.com that she’s “thankful.”

“I hope it may inspire other young people to take up the challenge and spread the word—old houses, old buildings, old furnishings have many new uses and should be recycled,” she said. “Digging up the artifacts buried in a trash pit is all part of discovering the way people lived in the past and part of the big cultural picture.”

She added: “This award makes me very happy and proud of my life’s accomplishments, and pleased that they are recognized.”

Lindstrom was not immediately available for comment.

News

‘A Small Purchase of Books’: Roger Sherman Inn as New Canaan’s First Library

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“The people in this place have agreed, many of them, to set up a library and are collecting money to make a small purchase of books.” —from a Jan. 16, 1790 letter from the Rev. Justus Mitchell of New Canaan to Roger Sherman, his wife’s uncle

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Perhaps no commercial enterprise in New Canaan has garnered as much attention in recent months as the Roger Sherman Inn. For good reason. Since hitting the market at $6 million three summers ago, the Oenoke Ridge Road restaurant and inn has been the subject of wide speculation. After lingering on the market for years, a well-known developer materialized last fall as the property’s “contract purchaser,” with a plan to create eight (later modified to six) homes on a 1.8-acre property that, as-of-right, would have just one.

Around Town

New Canaan Historical Society Announces New Executive Director

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New Canaan Historical Society officials announced Tuesday that the Oenoke Ridge Road facility’s first new executive director in 34 years is a Harvard Law School graduate and former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts who has authored four novels and volunteered to support multiple local organizations. Nancy Geary will succeed town resident Janet Lindstrom in the role. Lindstrom’s retirement was announced in October. Mark Markiewicz, president of the Historical Society’s Board of Governors, said in a press release that the organization is “very pleased to announce this appointment” following an extensive search. “Nancy will bring leadership and creativity to the Society’s exhibitions and programming, as well as a deep sense of commitment to the organization,” he said.