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Podcast: 15th Annual Holiday Stroll Comes Friday and Saturday

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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 about the Holiday Stroll, a favorite annual event that will kick off at 6 p.m. Friday in the heart of the downtown and continue Saturday. This week’s podcast is sponsored by New Canaan Music. Join them from 8 to 11 p.m. Thursday at Pesca on Main Street while The Scavengers play for the Holiday Stroll kick-off.  During the Stroll weekend, New Canaan Music will offer half off on Hamilton Stands as well as free assembly and local delivery for electric pianos and drum kits (a $50 value). Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

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Selectman Williams Proposes Elimination of Metered Parking in New Canaan

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Shoppers and diners would feel more welcome in New Canaan if they faced enforceable parking time limits instead of pay machines, Selectman Nick Williams said Tuesday. Though cars wouldn’t be allowed to sit in a parking space all day and enforcement officers would ticket overtime violators, New Canaan should look into eliminating metered parking downtown, Williams said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “It would be, I think, great for our town in the sense that it would be a talking point: Come to New Canaan, you don’t have to worry about putting money in the meter, don’t have to worry about running out of time,” Williams said during the meeting, held in Town Hall. “You would have to consider it can’t be a situation where you can’t park all day in Morse Court or elsewhere—maybe it’s two hours, maybe it’s three hours, that would be something for discussion— but I put that out there because we need to do whatever we can to support our downtown.”

The comments came during an open discussion of general matters before the town. New Canaan offers metered parking spaces in the Morse Court, Locust Avenue, Park Street, Playhouse, Railroad and Talmadge Hill Lots.

Barbara Crolla

‘It’s a Neighborhood’: Local Optometrist Marks 35-Year Milestone at New Canaan Eye Associates

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Dr. Rick Crolla’s foray into optometry began unexpectedly during a summer trip in the late-1970s to his in-laws’ cottage in Charleston, R.I.

He and his new bride—1971 New Canaan High School graduate Barbara Sawicky—were living in Boston at the time. They’d both earned bachelor’s degrees from Central Connecticut State University—she in early childhood and special education, he a secondary education degree in biology and chemistry. 

“The plan was we were both going to teach,” Crolla recalled on a recent morning. “But there were no jobs available when we graduated.”

So Crolla, thinking he’d need additional income to supplement his future pay as a teacher, spent three years earning a second bachelor’s degree, in pharmacy. Yet working as a pharmacist didn’t satisfy Crolla, who during one stint in Quincy, Mass. was held up by a man who pulled a sawed-off shotgun out of a Lord & Taylor bag. 

His father-in-law—Dr. Edward Sawicky, who had launched New Canaan Eye Associates on Elm Street in 1948—turned to him over cocktails at the cottage and asked whether he’d consider going back to school for optometry.

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Letter: ‘Explore New Canaan’ Brings in $3,500 in Food Donations for Local Pantry

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On Thursday August 22nd the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce hosted ‘Explore New Canaan’ in a bid to attract people downtown and despite some initial rain it was extremely successful, raising $3,500 worth of food donations for the local Food Pantry. 

Even Santa Claus had a hand in the helping the local food pantry as he collected over $400 in cash donations at the sidewalk sales this past July. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of Walter Stewart’s Market. Stewart’s orders and delivers items for the food pantry that they have specifically asked for. The power or partnerships at work in NC! Local, New Canaan moms Rachel Lampen and Kristen Mitrakis, who run Rock Paper Scissors Events were tasked with changing up the Taste of the Town premise, while keeping it fun with the emphasis being the local Food Pantry.

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Tourism Committee: Mid-Century Moderns Association, Consistent Messaging Among Focus Areas

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New Canaan’s cultural heritage should be spotlighted and promoted, according to a volunteer committee of the town. 

The focus of the Tourism and Economic Development Advisory Committee, known as ‘TEDAC,’ includes increasing resident usage of New Canaan’s downtown area and other attractions, and developing communication strategies using existing platforms in order to bring more visibility to what the town can offer, according to members of the committee. 

Addressing the Board of Selectmen at its July 9 meeting, TEDAC Interim Chair Tucker Murphy described some of the research the committee has undertaken. She said the group has taken up a survey of people who have recently moved to New Canaan as well as an economic study of the downtown area. One of the things Murphy said the committee has discovered is that locals “may not fully take advantage of all we have to offer.” 

“If just the people of New Canaan used all the services and all the businesses that were here, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion,” TEDAC member Robert Doran said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. The question, he added, is “How do we leverage what we have amongst the people who live in town already?”

“And then reach out to other communities to join us,” he said. Murphy referenced a presentation sent to the selectmen prior to the meeting.