Around Town

Annual ‘Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale’ Set for July 18-19

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[The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates.]

One of New Canaan’s most anticipated events of summer is set to take place this month. The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale will run July 18 and 19 downtown. Spanning the commercial centers of Elm, Forest and Main Streets, the Sidewalk Sale will feature nearly 100 stands of local businesses and merchandise from all over New Canaan, according to Laura Budd, the Chamber’s executive director. 

“Our Sidewalk Sale is two days long,” Budd said. “Friday, July 18th features our local stores on the sidewalk. Merchants see products in their store that they just want to move along, so this gives them the opportunity to come outside in the summer and make room for all the great new products they want to get for the holidays and rest of the year.”

The stores that will have their stands up on the 18th will be up during their usual store hours, and will not interrupt the flow of traffic, Budd said.  

On Saturday, the full Sidewalk Sale opens and the one-way stretch of Elm and parts of Main and Forest will be made pedestrian-only, for residents to shop, walk around and enjoy food, she said. 

“On Saturday, July 19th, the Sidewalk Sale hours will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but we start closing down the streets at around 7:30 a.m. because vendors have to come in and set up their booths.” Budd said. 

The New Canaan Sidewalk Sale is so popular because it always has a wide variety of stands, from clothing to The Society of Santas, for visitors to enjoy, Budd said.  

“What makes our Sidewalk Sale unique versus other communities is that it’s both a Village Fair and a Sidewalk Sale,” she said.

Government

Police Commission Approves Road Closures for July 17 Sidewalk Sale

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New Canaan’s local traffic authority last week approved a request to close a main drag in the heart of the downtown for a Saturday in July for the one of the community’s most popular annual events. The Police Commission vote unanimously to close the one-way stretch of Elm Street, part of Forest Street and the “Pop-Up Park” area at Elm and South for the Sidewalk Sale, to be held July 17. “We are not going to close Main Street this year, which we would have had to ask the state for permission for that,” New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Budd told members of the Commission at their regular meeting, held May 19 via videoconference. “It will be bigger than last year, where we asked for two days to close the street. This year, we’re just going to ask for one.

Podcast: Here Comes the New Canaan Sidewalk Sale

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Tucker Murphy of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce and Steve Karl of Karl Chevrolet about the planning, activities and uniqueness of the Sidewalk Sale & Village Fair, which will be held Saturday. This week’s podcast is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Look for their signature Model T at Saturday’s Sidewalk Sale for special sales on Connecticut’s freshest local produce. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Business

Sidewalk Sale: Return of Caffeine & Carburetors Announced as Throngs of Bargain-Hunters Hit Downtown New Canaan [PHOTOS]

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Scores of bargain-hunters descended on downtown New Canaan on a tolerably warm Saturday for the 52nd annual Village Fair and Sidewalk Sale. Merchant booths on Main, Elm and Forest Streets sold out well ahead of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s deadline, and shoppers moved through areas cordoned off for pedestrians to peruse racks of clothes and tables of goods, visiting the Pop Up Park for live music and food and riding on “zippy pets” where Karl Chevrolet and the New Canaan YMCA set up at Main and Elm. “The weather is going to be great—it’s not 99 degrees,” Chamber Executive Director Tucker Murphy said. “This is all good.”

Doug Zumbach, owner of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street, in the afternoon announced that Caffeine & Carburetors—originally ruled out for 2017—would make a special return to downtown New Canaan on Sunday, Sept. 17.

Business

‘Early Bird Sales’ To Premiere Friday, Setting Up New Canaan Sidewalk Sales

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For 51 years, New Canaan has held its Sidewalk Sale & Village Fair in July. With the third week of the month already underway, New Canaan stores and shops have already started to set up for this weekend. Although the town has had this date set for every year, the Darien and Greenwich weekend sales fall on the same days this year. Expected to lose some of the crowd to the other towns, the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce has worked with stores and town officials that many expect will please bargain-hunters and merchants alike this year. For the first time, street-level stores downtown will hold ‘Early Bird Sales’ on Friday.