Monthly Archives: December 2017

Pic Of The Day #258

Posted on December 31, 2017 | Comments Off on Pic Of The Day #258

Love on Compo’s South Beach jetty: Friday, December 29. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

Comments Off on Pic Of The Day #258

Posted in Beach, Pic of the Day

Tagged

Frigid First Night Frolic

Posted on December 31, 2017 | 9 comments

A little c-c-cold didn’t deter this crew from taking a horse ride around downtown Westport.

It’s part of First Night, the annual celebration taking place now through 10 p.m.

Besides the carriage, there’s stargazing and a warming fire by Jesup Green.

For the less hardy, tons of stuff happens at a variety of indoor venues.

Click here for details.

Happy new year!

9 Comments

Posted in Children, Downtown, Organizations

Tagged

Saying Goodbye To 2017

Posted on December 31, 2017 | 6 comments

The final day of the year dawned bright, bone-chillingly cold, and with a fresh dusting of snow on the ground.

Alert “06880” photographer Larry Untermeyer grabbed his camera, and headed around town to record these scenes.

We don’t know what the new year will bring. But Larry brings us these reminders that on a winter Sunday in Westport, some things never change.

(Photos/Larry Untermeyer)

 

 

6 Comments

Posted in Beach, Downtown, Longshore, Sports, Weather

Tagged , ,

Photo Challenge #157

Posted on December 31, 2017 | 18 comments

Last week’s photo challenged many “06880” readers. Diane Silfen was one. “I guess I spend way too much time in Saugatuck,” she wrote. “I need to get out more.”

If she does, she should head east on the Post Road. There — on the side of the building that once housed Swanky Frank’s, Woody’s and Dairy Queen, and is now the very popular Little Barn restaurant — hangs a wooden American flag.

Only Tom Ryan, Fred Cantor and Jonathan McClure knew where they’d seen it. Click here for Ed Simek’s photo, and the very few (hey, it was Christmas Eve!) comments.

Bobbie Herman took this week’s photo challenge. If you know where in Westport you can see it, click “Comments” below.

Hint: Bobbie says “it’s really decrepit.”

18 Comments

Posted in Photo Challenge, Restaurants

Tagged

First Night Is On! (But Fireworks Are Off)

Posted on December 31, 2017 | 1 comment

Today — the last day of 2017 — is forecast to be one of the coldest of the year. Temperatures will peak at about 17 this afternoon, then drop to around 13 at night.

That should not deter anyone from First Night. In fact, it should inspire you! Sure, you’ll be chilly moving from event to event. But once inside the various venues, you’ll be toasty warm. And the outside stuff includes snuggle-close activities like horse-drawn carriage rides, stargazing and a warming fire.

In fact, the only casualty of the weather is the fireworks display.

For good reason: The Saugatuck River is frozen.

The Saugatuck River, as seen from Grace Salmon Park. The photo is from 2015 — but you get the idea. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

The barge can’t get on the water. So — even though First Night director/guru Barbara Pearson-Rac spent the day with fire officials and the fireworks contractor trying to figure out a solution — that’s been scratched.

But that’s it! Everything else is on. Here are a few highlights:

  • Musical performances from Broadway, movies, jazz and the blues — including Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mark Naftalin, award-winning pianist Chris Coogan, musical theater great Michele Grace and the School of Rock
  • A hypnotist
  • Train displays
  • Saugatuck School’s Kids Park, with indoor bounce houses, dancing, sing-alongs, balloon twisters, caricatures, a Magic Genie and ventriloquist
  • Theater acts
  • Puppet shows
  • Vaudeville
  • Family Zumba classes
  • Psychic readings
  • Comedy
  • Magic

Sites include Saugatuck Elementary School, Toquet Hall, the Westport Historical Society, Christ & Holy Trinity Church, Seabury Center, Jesup Green and more. (Click here for the full schedule.)

All performances are within walking distance. Free shuttles run from Jesup Green to Saugatuck Elementary.

First Night kicks off at 3:30 p.m., and runs through 10.

All you need is a button. They’re $15 each (kids under 2 are free), available online or at Trader Joe’s, Westport Library, Westport Historical Society, and Westport and Weston Town Halls. They’re also for sale during First Night itself at Town Hall and all venues.

Who needs fireworks, anyway?

Happy New Year!

(Hat tip: Kami Evans)

1 Comment

Posted in Children, Downtown, Entertainment, Organizations, People

Tagged ,

Pics Of The Day #257

Posted on December 30, 2017 | 2 comments

Old Mill Beach, earlier today, outside Robin Tauck’s window…

… and the cozy view inside Ken Bernhard’s house.

2 Comments

Posted in Beach, Pic of the Day

Tagged

Remembering Jessica Shure

Posted on December 30, 2017 | 9 comments

Jessica Shure — a Staples Players star in productions like “Guys and Dolls,” “Mame,” “The Mystery of  Edwin Drood” and “The Sound of Music” — died on Wednesday of a brain aneurysm.

The 2001 graduate is remembered by Players directors David Roth and Kerry Long for her “exceptional soprano voice, quirky sense of humor and devotion to musical theatre.” Here she is as Deirdre Peregrine/Rosa Bud in “Drood”:

As a senior, she performed a memorable spring concert solo with Alice Lipson’s choir.

She headed to Northwestern University and pursued acting after Staples, then changed careers and focused on food. She became a valued pastry chef at Bill Taibe’s Whelk and Kawa Ni. (Click here for a profile of her there.)

Jessica Shure (Photo courtesy of CTEatsOut.com)

Friends are invited to stop by the Shure house today (Saturday, December 30), from 1 to 6 p.m.

Her sister Caitlin and brother Dan suggest that contributions in her name can be made to a local animal shelter or the American Civil Liberties Union,

(Hat tip: Jim Honeycutt)

9 Comments

Posted in Arts, Entertainment, People, Restaurants, Staples HS

Tagged , , , , ,

All A(bill)board!

Posted on December 30, 2017 | 4 comments

Last month, the Westport Transit District announced a new commuter shuttle marketing campaign.

Unlike many Metro-North trains, it arrived on time.

Recently — with the help of Police Chief Foti Koskinas and his team — the WTD installed new billboards at the Saugatuck and Greens Farms railroad station.

They’re eye-catching. And clever.

A much-needed route map helps too:

The WTD is also placing 5 x 7 route and information cards all around town: the stations, coffee shops, library, Town Hall and at real estate agencies, to name a few.

Meanwhile, they’ve sent emails to railroad parking permit holders, those on the wait list, and the Westport Parks and Recreation list. Those have generated interest in the WestportTransit.org website, which includes schedules and instructions on how to download the MyStop app. (Yes, it takes you to the Norwalk Transit District site. You’re in the right place.)

The Westport Transit District is making all the right moves to boost ridership.

Plus, those billboards give you something to look at while you wait for that overdue train.

4 Comments

Posted in Organizations, Transportation

Tagged , ,

Pic Of The Day #256

Posted on December 29, 2017 | 1 comment

Holiday lights on Saugatuck Shores: the view from Longshore (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

1 Comment

Posted in Longshore, Pic of the Day

Tagged

Friday Flashback #72

Posted on December 29, 2017 | 27 comments

The new tax bill signed by President Trump may devastate Newman’s Own Foundation. Since 1982, the Westport-based organization has donated $512 million to charities helping veterans, children with cancer, low-income students and many other causes. (Click here for the full story.)

That news reminds us of the actor/food and lemonade manufacturer/automobile racer’s enormous, longtime impact on our town.

From the time he moved to Coleytown in the late 1950s — attracted here by the movie “Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” — he and his wife Joanne Woodward — were good, giving neighbors.

From the Westport Historical Society and Westport Country Playhouse to speaking with middle school students about substance abuse, the couple did plenty for all of us.

Everyone who’s lived here a while has a Paul Newman or Joanne Woodward story.

But I’d sure like to know the one behind this photo, taken shortly after he moved around the corner from the elementary school:

(Photo courtesy of Dave Parnas via Facebook “Exit 18” page)

27 Comments

Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Friday Flashback, Organizations, Westport Country Playhouse

Tagged ,