Around Town

Wednesday is Donation Day for ‘Feeding 500’ at Walter Stewart’s Market, Stewart’s Wine & Spirits

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Two of New Canaan’s best-established businesses are supporting a locally run nonprofit organization with a “donation day” Wednesday. On Dec. 8, 10% of all proceeds at Stewart’s Wine & Spirits will go toward Feeding 500, which raises money for the food program at Open Doors in Norwalk. Additionally, T-Bill customers of Walter Stewart’s Market can donate their T-Bills to the organization all day. New Canaan High School junior Oliver Tuff, founder and president of Feeding 500, said the local support is “crucial” to the organization’s success. 

“We started as a way to get local high schoolers and the New Canaan community more involved in community efforts so the money and food we have raised so far has been due to the support we’ve gotten from the community,” Tuff told NewCanaanite.com in an email.

Business

Local Businesses Q&A: Walter Stewart’s Market and Stewarts Wine & Spirits

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Today’s installment of our Q&A series with a local business is with Doug Stewart Walter Stewart’s Market and Stewarts Wine & Spirits on Elm Street. Here’s our exchange:

New Canaanite: Doug, you’re very plugged into the local business community, as an owner of one of New Canaan’s best-established businesses, a member of the Chamber of Commerce board and a resident yourself. What is your sense of consumer demand this holiday shopping season, and of the health of our local business community? Doug Stewart: A main draw to New Canaan is our vibrant, charming downtown. With so many new families in town now and the holiday season there is a lot of great energy in New Canaan.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police are investigating a bicycle reported stolen at 7:10 p.m. Monday from the Thrift Store at Locust Avenue and Main Street. ***

Orders are open for this year’s New Canaan Ornaments, celebrating local heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed by ornament co-chair Faith Kerchoff and cut by her husband, John, they depict:

The New Canaan Fire Department with their “Drive By Birthday Parades,” which were enjoyed by children and their families.  
Walter Stewart’s Market for keeping everyone fed, making deliveries and pick-ups possible, as well as senior only shopping hours. The Farmers Market which took paid orders for pickup. The New Canaan gnome, which was created by the New Canaan Beautification League as part of their holiday decoration for the town.

Bankwell

‘It’s the Right Thing To Do’: Local Businesses Urge or Require Employees To Get Vaccinated

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Bankwell CEO Chris Gruseke and his management team already were tracking COVID-19 infection rates, deaths and government regulations related to the pandemic daily as the rollout of vaccines got underway earlier this year. The New Canaan-based company was in the early phases of its widely anticipated move into a new building at Elm and Grove Streets, and as workers moved into offices and cubicles, Gruseke and his managers “were encouraging people to get the vaccine, we were wearing our buttons and badges around the office,” he said. “Being an employer and being a public employer and being responsible for other people’s lives, also being a member of the community, we are monitoring this daily,” Gruseke, a New Canaan resident, said from his glass-windowed corner office at 258 Elm St. “What are the regulation changes and what is happening in Connecticut and what the CDC is saying? And we were always on the most conservative ends of the discussion.

Around Town

Q&A: 10th Annual ‘Taste of New Canaan Stroll’ Set for Wednesday

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The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce is offering three different walking tours of the downtown for an annual fundraiser that offers participants a chance to sample some of the best local cuisine. The ‘Taste of New Canaan Stroll,’ benefiting the local food pantry, kicks off at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Limited tickets for the “Taste Tour” (10 stops), “Family Fiesta” (six stops) and “Wine Trail” (10 stops) are available through the Chamber website. We put some questions to Laura Budd, the Chamber’s executive director, ahead of this year’s Stroll. Our exchange follows.