Around Town

Everyone Happy To See Pop Up Park’s Return

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The opening of the Pop Up Park at South and Elm last Friday went smoothly. “Everybody seems happy to have it back,” Jeff Holland, a member of the Pop Up Park committee, said.  “We are seeing people that we haven’t seen since the last time we set up.”

The temporary park displayed a mixture of New Canaanites relaxing, talking, and eating under the shade of the new park umbrellas and children participating in the olympic-themed events hosted by the YMCA. Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation, the Pop Up Park committee was able to add pots full of radiant flower blossoms as well as more tables with varying heights. Tucker Murphy, a founding member of the Pop Up Park volunteer committee, said that the park “is supposed to be flexible.

Around Town

Pop Up Park To Launch Aug. 5, Run Continuously for Three Weeks; ‘Thursday Night Music’ New This Year

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With a successful Sidewalk Sales now in hand, downtown New Canaan is poised for its first extended installment of the Pop Up Park at South and Elm. This year, the Pop Up Park—to be in place continuously from Aug. 5 to 28, following town approval—will offer not only new umbrellas and seating but a new feature every Thursday evening: Live music. The ‘Thursday Night Music’ series, overseen by New Canaan Music owner Phil Williams, will run 6 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 11, 18 and 25 and feature “a good cross-section of our music community here,” he said.

Around Town

Officials OK New Temporary Loading Zones Downtown While ‘Pop Up Park’ Operates Aug. 5 to 28

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The volunteer group that oversees on-street parking in New Canaan voted unanimously last week to designate two areas for commercial truck drivers to pull up and unload for the three weeks in August that the Pop Up Park will occupy their loading zone on the final block of South Avenue. The park is to be set up on South between Morse Court and Elm Street from Aug. 5 to 28, following approval from the Police Commission in December. Its organizers say it will feature new furniture and umbrellas. Two years ago, the Pop Up Park Committee placed the loading zone just beyond the park on Elm Street but “that wasn’t safe for pedestrians because of the two crosswalks there,” committee member Jeff Holland told the Police Commission at its July 20 meeting.

Around Town

Industrial-Grade Umbrellas, New Seating Coming To Pop Up Park, AKA ‘The Launchpad’

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The volunteers who oversee the soon-to-return Pop Up Park downtown say they’re upgrading the furniture there this summer and partnering with nonprofits to help the organizations gain visibility. As requested, the Pop Up Park’s organizers have checked with New Canaan’s Special Events Committee and are ready to run the makeshift park continuously from Aug. 5 to 28, according to Martin Skrelunas. Merchants have come to the Pop Up Park Committee requesting participation in the space this summer and “they are starting to refer to it as ‘The Launchpad,’ ” Skrelunas told members of the Police Commission at their meeting Thursday, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “I think we also have a grant opportunity that we are going to apply to add to the furnishings that we have.

Business

‘Pop Up Park’ Approved for Three Weeks Next August

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Town officials on Tuesday granted conditional approval for volunteers to operate the Pop Up Park in its place on the first block of South Avenue, continuously, from Aug. 5 through 28. So long as the administrative team that oversees special events planning in New Canaan says there’s no conflict, South Avenue will be closed between Morse Court and Elm Street for those three weeks, following a 3-0 vote by the Police Commission. One member of the Pop Up Park Committee, Martin Skrelunas, said First Selectman Rob Mallozzi supported the proposed dates (so long as it doesn’t run into Labor Day, Sept. 5) and told commissioners that the town has pledged financial support in the form of infrastructure at the site.