Did You Hear … ?

To help promote the 2015 Books, Blues, and BBQ party to benefit the New Canaan Library, the event’s committee members are encouraging residents to post on the library’s Facebook page photos of themselves wearing a favorite cowboy hat. “Over the years, cowboy attire has become associated with this important fundraising event,” Holly Parmelee, committee co-chairperson, said in a press release. “It is common that party-goers come decked out in cowboy hats and boots. So we thought it would be fun to encourage community members to show their support for the library and the event by posting a photo of themselves wearing their favorite cowboy hat.” See the gallery above for some familiar faces around town that are already participating. ***

Some disturbing news here: We’re hearing that some residents of Spring Water Lane last Wednesday discovered ‘#WhiteLivesMatter’ flyers, in Zip-loc bags and weighed down with rocks, on top of their mailboxes.

‘Factum Est’: Generous Offer Has New-Look NCHS Teacher David Harvey ‘Pink’ for a Full Week

Many New Canaanites by now have heard about New Canaan High School Latin teacher David Harvey’s plan to attend school Friday with his hair dyed pink. An incentive for a fundraising effort that will benefit a summer camp for kids who have cancer or who have had cancer, the deal was that if an extracurricular club dedicated to Camp Rising Sun could raise more than $200, Harvey would come to school with pink-dyed hair on Friday. (They raised $279.66.)

It’s an especially meaningful effort for Rising to the Cure Club founder Olivia Park, a 17-year-old NCHS senior who has attended the camp in Colchester, Conn. every year since she was seven, the summer after she was diagnosed with a tissue cancer (she has been in remission for 10 years). Hearing the story, town resident and local builder Arnold Karp decided to step up and encourage the club to exceed its original goal: He’s offering a dollar-for-dollar match for any additional funds, up to $1,000, that Olivia and the others can raise through next Friday.

NCHS Teacher To Dye His Hair Pink, for a Great Cause

New Canaan High School senior Olivia Park takes Spanish, not Latin, so she’s never had a class with David Harvey. And before last week, she never had reason to meet the (white-haired) teacher. Then a sophomore, Austin Pelli, a student of Harvey’s and member of the extracurricular club that Park founded two years ago—the Rising to a Cure Club—hit on an idea for a fundraising challenge: They’d try to raise $200 in spare change collected from students during two lunch periods, and if they reached that goal, Mr. Harvey would dye his hair pink. “I think they sold me cheap, frankly,” Harvey said with a smile Wednesday afternoon in Room 114, Park sitting one desk away. In all, the club raised $279.66, and Harvey on Thursday evening will dye his hair pink as promised (with a hand from his son’s girlfriend—his boys are unwilling to help) then come to school Friday and face the student body.