Around Town

Second Annual ‘Tailgate Party’ at Waveny To Be Held Saturday

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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.

Around Town

‘It’s Really Beautiful’: Praise for New Footpath at Waveny

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Recently completed by the town, a new path in Waveny, running from the western side of Waveny House to the Lapham Road entrance, is earning high praise from park users. The eight-foot wide path closes a long-planned loop in the park, officials say, allowing visitors to enjoy approximately 1.7 miles of uninterrupted pathway and offering an even more attractive solution to pedestrians who insist on walking in the road. “It used to be like a cow path,” Recreation Director Steve Benko told NewCanaanite.com. “Everybody had to walk up the same hill, and they’d trip over rocks and roots. Now, you can conceivably do a loop of the whole park without leaving the path.”

Additional drainage is expected to take place soon, and the path is currently up and running under a design from the Waveny Park Conservancy.

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.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A mother turkey hopped out into Valley Road around 12:30 p.m. on June 7 to keep at bay a town woman walking her dog up near the Grupes Reservoir. The mama turkey apparently was guarding her three baby chicks nearby—unfortunately, a passing motorist struck the big bird and killed her. The pedestrian phoned the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department, and Officer Allyson Halm spotted the baby turkeys but lost them on retrieving a carrier from the van. ***

Congratulations to New Canaan resident Pasquale Poccia, who became a U.S. citizen this week after taking the Oath of Allegiance on Wednesday during the 6th annual Flag Day Naturalization Ceremony at Mystic Seaport. Poccia is owner of Pasquale’s Osteria, an Italian and International/Continental cuisine restaurant on Main Street in Norwalk.

Around Town

Selectmen Approve First Phase of Reconstructed Trail along Main Road through Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a privately funded project at Waveny that will see one of the park’s most heavily used trails overhauled to improve use and drainage. The Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting unanimously approved a $49,200 contract with a local landscaping company to reconstruct the trail that runs from Waveny’s South Avenue entrance, along the main road through the park to the “four-way intersection” at the foot of the hill. To be completed in four sections, starting at the “four-way” and progressing eastward, is to be funded by the Waveny Park Conservancy. The first section will include two stream crossings and already has been approved by Inland Wetlands officials, according to Tiger Mann, director of the Department of Public works. Three companies put in bids for the job and their proposals were “quite tight,” coming in within $1,000 of each other, Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall.