Business

Helping Neighbors: ‘Thanksgiving Donation Days’ Drive at Walter Stewart’s through Wednesday

By |

Each of the 11 cousins in Alex and Doug Stewart’s generation of the longtime local family has worked at one point or another in one of the family’s iconic businesses: New Canaan’s oldest retailer, Walter Stewart’s Market (since 1907) or its contiguous wine and liquor shop, 40-year-old Stewart’s Spirits. Asked on a recent afternoon how their own professional arcs landed both him and one of his little brothers, Doug, at Stewart’s full-time, the affable floor manager and co-owner of the Elm Street store, Alex said with a smile: “It’s like it was meant to be.”

Good thing for New Canaan. As Walter Stewart’s—anchor of the business community and pillar of the New Canaan community at large, a supporter of countless local causes, events and nonprofits—marks its 107th birthday, shoppers can take advantage of a special promotion serving families in need. As Doug and Alex—both former Center Schoolers and South School parents now, explained—the store is teaming up with the Young Women’s League of New Canaan for their annual Thanksgiving Donation Days T-Bill Drive, through this Wednesday, Nov. 5, to provide local families in need with Thanksgiving meals, which will be distributed by Person-to-Person.

Business

New Canaan Draws Crowds for Taste of the Town Stroll, Supporting Local Food Pantry and Businesses

By |

[acx_slideshow name=”2014 New Canaan Taste of the Town Stroll”]

Scores of shoppers, a good few foodies among them, crowded the sidewalks and stores along Elm Street Thursday night for the fourth annual Taste of the Town Stroll. A “foodraiser” benefitting the New Canaan Food Pantry that also connects businesses with new customers while giving those customers deals and a good chance to win a raffle prize, the Taste of the Town Stroll is a New Canaan Chamber of Commerce event. Though skies were threatening all evening, the rain held off above a bustling Elm Street, as shoppers enjoyed bits of food and drink inside stores, some live music from School of Rock and the New Canaan Music “house band” up at the alley toward the top of Elm. Supporters of the pantry—many of whom dropped off non-perishables at tables set up for the purpose on Elm, or had purchased needed goods at cost from Walter Stewart’s, a major supporter of the Stroll—and our businesses also had a chance to win dozens of prizes given away in a raffle. Chamber Executive Director Tucker Murphy said the main goal of the event is to see the increasingly important food pantry stocked overnight.

Business

New Canaan Gears Up for Aug. 21 ‘Taste of the Town Stroll’

By |

New Canaan’s business community is gearing up for an increasingly popular annual event that connects local merchants with customers while benefitting the local food pantry. The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s third annual Taste of the Town Stroll, benefitting the New Canaan Food Pantry, runs from 6 to 9 p.m. next Thursday, Aug. 21 (rain date Aug. 22). Chamber Marketing Associate Laura Budd calls the event “a triple win.”

“Number one, the food pantry gets stocked.

Business

Sidewalk Sale Saturday: Great Shopping Deals & Local Charitable Causes

By |

Saturday’s annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) will feature local businesses offering great deals on products and services (as well as giveaways)—we previewed some of them here and include a fuller list at the end of this article (full vendor list here). The hugely popular annual event also is a time when many businesses partner up to support charities, and a time for nonprofit organizations to raise money and boost memberships. In partnership with Walter Stewart’s, New Canaan’s Lou Kozar, owner of New Canaan Bicycles in the Bob’s Sports lot, will ride a specially rigged stationary bike from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. called a “Fender Blender” that will mix up ice and lemonade that will be sold for $5 a glass with all proceeds going to the CT Challenge. The effort, which centers on a long bike ride, raises money to empower cancer survivors to live “healthier, happier and longer lives.”

“It’s a great event and I unfortunately wont’ be able to do any bike riding this year because of the time it takes place,” Kozar said. “But I love being a part of it in this way that I can, to spin my legs and contribute to the cause.”

Down Elm Street at Main, the New Canaan Veterinary Hospital will set up a table and take donations that will go toward a fund for the New Canaan Police Department’s K9 unit.

Around Town

Town Officials Weigh Proposed Bicycle Signs

By |

Town officials are weighing whether to install roadside signs developed by a Fairfield County cycling group that illustrate a state law instructing motorists to give bicycle riders three feet of separation when passing. The Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club (which has a mailing address in Darien) has proposed introducing the bright yellow signs in New Canaan, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works. Mann (who added that he doesn’t like the idea of installing signs without a very good reason) said he’s bringing the proposal to the town planner and Planning and Zoning to see what they think. “It’s a question of the signs themselves, where to put them and then jurisdiction, too—whether it’s a street sign or not,” Mann said. Cycling is a popular form of exercise and transportation for New Canaanites, and locals this spring saw their own official cycling group form—a joint effort of New Canaan Bicycles (in the Bob’s Sports lot off of Cherry) and Walter Stewart’s.