New Canaan Olive Oil, a popular shop on Elm Street’s “50-yard line” for more than four years, will move into a shared commercial space on Main Street next month. Heidi Burrows, the business’s owner, said her lease is up Dec. 31 and that she’s moving the retail shop into Against The Grain at 91 Main St. There will be no disruption for customers, Burrows said. “We expect almost everything to stay the same, just in a different location,” she said.
Building on the success of last December’s “ugly sweater” contest, Town Hall workers this holiday season launched a new competition that saw municipal departments vie for the title of “Best Snowman.”
With limitations on height and prohibitions on working on the snowmen on town time or putting more than $20 into them, agencies from the Police Department and Parking Bureau to the Town Clerk’s Office and combined Health-Building-P&Z-Inland Wetlands juggernaut put their entries on display Monday. They’ll remain prominently displayed for the rest of the week in the Town Hall lobby, according to Cheryl Pickering-Jones, New Canaan’s human resources director. “I think it went great,” she said of the contest. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan called the snowmen “fantastic,” saying he was “so impressed by the creativity and imagination of our town employees.”
“It’s going to be a very close call for Tucker Murphy to pick a winner,” Moynihan said. He referred to the executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce.
After nearly one year of planning and renovation, New Canaan’s newest restaurant opened Wednesday on Forest Street. Centrally located on the town’s “Restaurant Row,” Hashi Sushi is to be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week, according to its staff. Owned by a group that has similar eateries in New York and New Jersey, the approximately 50-seat restaurant features a full bar and sushi bar with nine stools, and its menu is extensive and diverse. Lunch option include a full menu of Hibachi choices ($11 to $14), a two- ($11) or three-roll ($13) Maki Roll combination with a wide selection including California, tuna, salmon and yellowtail scallion, as well as shrimp, chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin tempura. The lunch combos include miso soup and salad.
The Waveny Park Conservancy would like to express our appreciation to all the individuals who helped make our 2nd Annual Tailgate Party a huge success. We would like to thank the following members of the community, without whom the event would not have happened:
Louise Havens, BJ Flagg and Nurenu Brand Marketing, Elm Street Books, School of Rock, New Canaan Police Department, Becky Walsh, Diane Hannauer, Tangled Vine Band, New Canaan Wine Merchants, The New Canaan Library, The Chamber of Commerce, New Canaan Advertiser, The Rotary Club of New Canaan, Elm Street Books, New Canaanite, The Town of New Canaan and Mose Saccary and the Town’s Highway Department. Special thanks are extended to Steve Benko, who of course invests countless hours to ensure that every event that happens at Waveny goes off without a hitch. We are especially appreciative to everyone in the community that purchased a ticket and turned up for the Tailgate as the proceeds raised will assist the Conservancy’s efforts to restore and enhance the 130 acres of open space surrounding Waveny. Lastly, we encourage those that still want to show their support to go to our website to donate.
One of New Canaan’s most active and effective nonprofit organizations is counting down this week to a unique social gathering at Waveny Park that doubles as an important fundraiser. The Waveny Park Conservancy’s second annual Tailgate Party is to be held 4 to 10:30 p.m. on the lawn out back of Waveny House. Launched last fall, the event sees ticket-holding New Canaanites park in rows out back of the stately 1912-built Waveny House for an hours-long classic tailgate, mixing with each other over loads of food and drink, around a fire pit and in front of a live band—this year it’s Tangled Vine—and giant inflatable screen featuring college football games. “We had incredible success last year at the first annual tailgate and we look forward to people from New Canaan turning out again in support of the Waveny Park Conservancy’s cause,” co-chair Brock Saxe told NewCanaanite.com. “Growing up in New Canaan, I never appreciated the incredible asset that Waveny is to this town and so the Conservancy is working hard to restore trails and the cornfields and to take on a bunch of projects in collaboration with the town of New Canaan.”
Those projects include the creation of new trails that are getting high marks from park goers, renewal of the the pond located at the foot of the sledding hill and in the cornfields, a plan that has received enthusiastic support from town officials.