When I launched “06880” 10 years ago this week, I had 2 fears:
- No one would read it, and
- I’d very quickly run out of stories.
A decade later, the news is good.
I now have 10,000 daily readers.
I have not run out of stories. There’s actually so much stuff out there, I post 2 to 5 times a day.
In fact, in 10 years of publishing “06880,” I have never missed a day. That’s far better than the US government.
This man is smiling because he loves writing “06880.” (Photo/Pam Einarsen)
A lot has happened in the decade since I first hurled “06880” into cyberspace.
We have rebuilt Saugatuck, built Bedford Square, and are building a bathroom on South Beach.We have weathered a recession, and survived some really nasty weather. (Power went out during Irene, Sandy and many other storms, but “06880” kept readers out of the dark.)
This happened too, over the past 10 years: “06880” has become, basically, my full-time job.
I never expected that. I now spend up to 6 hours a day on this blog.
You see the stories I write. But there’s so much more. I conduct interviews and research. I take, find and edit photos. (You think the Pic of the Day just falls from the sky?).
I moderate all comments — keeping the tone civil, making sure folks use their real names, responding when necessary.
I answer every single email. I’m glad readers write me directly. But boy, you’ve got a ton of obscure questions, random thoughts and story suggestions (both sublime and ridiculous).
Where but “06880” can you see a photo like this — every night? (Photo/John Videler)
I’ve cut back on much of my outside writing to focus on “06880.” Meanwhile, I spend my own money on it. I pay for domain mapping. For software upgrades. And — have you noticed? — I pay to keep it ad-free.
Which means it is more imperative than ever that, as I put out my tin cup — er, make my annual appeal for donations — “06880” readers come through.
Of those 10,000 daily readers, only a very small percentage contribute each year. I am extremely grateful to you 🙂 But that means the rest of you enjoy my 1,200+ stories a year, and our wonderful online community — for free.
So: If you like what you read, please consider supporting “06880.” Scroll down — details at the bottom!
Am I worth $1 a month? $1 a week? Perhaps (my choice!) $1 a day.
Or — for my 10th anniversary — think in multiples of 10. I’ll leave the math to you.
I hope that if “06880” has ever
- made you laugh, cry, think or wonder
- spurred you to go to an event, read a book, try a restaurant or patronize a store
- helped you meet a neighbor, or connect with an old friend
- kept you up to date in a blizzard, hurricane, windstorm or power outage
- made you feel connected to your new town (or the place you grew up)
- alerted you to a new housing or zoning development
- provided a forum for you to rant about an issue, rave about a place, or complain about my own personal politics
- delivered news about a favorite person, place or thing
- galvanized you to support a cause
- publicized your event, book, appearance or concert
- published your photo
- honored someone you loved or admired
- connected you to your hometown from many miles away
- saved you time or money
- opened a window on Westport’s history, helped you think about its future, introduced you to someone in town you never knew, or helped you look at someone or someplace in a new way
- inspired you
- made you sit up and say “Wow!” (or “Holy f—!”)
— you will consider tossing something my way. First-time supporters are joyfully welcomed!
Just a suggestion.
Thanks for 10 great years. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, whether anyone sends an anniversary gift or not.
We’ll still have our summer “06880” party at the beach. And I’ll still cover both the beauty and the changes of Compo.
It’s all part of “06880.” It’s my honor and privilege to help share it with you.
You can donate by PayPal: click here. It’s easy, safe — and you don’t even need a PayPal account. If you get an error message, go to www.PayPal.com; then log in (or create an account), and send money from the dropdown menu by entering this email address: dwoog@optonline.net. Or click the “Donate” button on the home page of “06880.”
Checks can be mailed to: Dan Woog, 301 Post Road East, Westport, CT 06880. Put “06880” on the memo line. It won’t do anything for the IRS, but it may help you remember at tax time why you sent me something.
I’m also on Venmo: @DanWoog06880. Thank you!
Congratulations on your 10th.
I now live very far away over here in Florence but Westport is still my home and I love your articles.
However, I do miss the ‘entitled parkers’ photos and shame posts!
Onto another 10 years.
Those “entitled parking” shots will continue. The bar has been set very high, however. Only shots of 3 spots taken, or other particularly egregious parking jobs, are now being accepted. Thanks, Bruce!
Glad to hear it… they always made me shake my head.
Love love love 06880. Thanks for all ur amazing Work. Mr Woog. You are the pulse of this fabulous town !!!!!!!🤗
Thanks, Daniel! Much appreciated.
If all the readers of this blog donated just $1Dan would be in great shape.It’s a better cause to donate to than charities where the CEO pulls in millions
If all the readers of this blog donated just $1Dan would be in great shape.It’s a better cause to donate to than charities where the CEO pulls in millions
Thank you, Arline!
Dan, “Happy 06880 Birthday‼️ You are really good at this‼️⭐️⭐️⭐️😊.
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks for being such a great and loyal reader, Roberta!
Congrats and thanks for all you do to keep everyone informed around town!
Thanks, Adam. And thank YOU for keeping so many important issues like our wounded veterans front and center!
There should be an award for best achievement in hyperlocality. Happy Anniversary!
Thanks, Don. My award is hearing from readers like you!
Don, I second that emotion!
Happy 10 year Anniversary Dan⭐️
Thanks, Patricia. And keep those fantastic photos coming!
Thank you Dan for all that you do for our community. You connect us, keep us aware and show us what goodness, passion and support there is in this area. You are a true Westport jewel!
And right back at ya, Pam. Keep those gorgeous photographs coming!
Dan, Former Westport resident, graduated from Staples in ‘75. Have received your wonderful emails for the past several years. They are excellent. I love reading about the town that was my childhood. Thank you very much for your hard work.
With appreciation,
Laura Mullins Atlanta resident for more than 40 years!
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Thanks, Laura. I’m glad you still feel connected to your “hometown”!
Congratulations on your 06880 anniversary! You are the best thing I know about Westport! Your blog is a driving force in creating a positive community and supporting the town. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. 🙋🏼💞
The check is in the mail – really!
Thank YOU, Bonnie, for your support and friendship. I have learned so much — about Westport, and life — from you. I look forward to seeing you at our summer “blog party.” And I do promise I will make it up to Roxbury too!
Congrats Dan! A real contribution to our town!
Thanks, Chuck. The Greenlee family rocks.
Happy 10th, Dan! You’re the best! My favorite go-to news guys and storyteller! We’d be lost without you letting us know the skinny. Keep those stories coming!
Will do. And thanks for your support, and all you do for all of us!
Dan,
You and 06880 are the best! But it speaks to a much deeper message your indefatigable love for Westport and our community of people. Thunder On Dan!
Thanks, Michael, for those great words. And thank you even more for all that you and the Calise family do for our town. I am always learning from you!
Happy 10 year anniversary Dan! Westport is very lucky to have you!
Thanks, Marisa!
As I always say, you rock!
But not as much as you do, Vanessa!
congratulations dan on 10 years. you are this town’s treasure. thank you for all you do.
And right back at ya, Marcy. YOU do great things, for sure!
Dan, hard to believe it’s been only ten years. It seems as if there has always been a “06880” to eagerly anticipate and rely on. Besides being incredibly informative you have adopted the role as chief cheerleader and P.R. executive for our wonderful town, and done a wonderful job.
Congratulations and here’s to another twenty at least.
Thanks, Mike — much appreciated. From your lips to you-know-who’s ears!
Congratulations, Dan! Although I moved next door to Fairfield, I still feel very much connected to Westport and your blog helps keep me connected. Here’s to another great ten, twenty, or thirty years!
You’re still a Westporter, Bobbie. Thank you!
Congrats on your 10th! Thank you, Dan, for keeping us entertained.
What is the most ridiculous request have you received? Do tell.
Thanks, Kevin. Most ridiculous is probably something along the lines of this (which I get a lot): “What’s the name of that restaurant that used to be somewhere near downtown. It may have been French, or German, or Italian. I think it had a blue awning. Or maybe not.”
Is your last name pronounced as it’s spelled or it’s “Vog”, like Wagner, the famed composer?
Neither. It rhymes with “vogue.” It’s Dutch (like Roosevelt or Moog, the synthesizer guy — a long “o”). Of course, everyone says “woooog” — and I have mispronounced my own name because of it!
Congratulations Dan! You have made such an impact with your blog on everyday Westport, as you have as a lifelong resident and coach in this town, and we have all learned from you- and each other– through your posts about Westport present day, and past. Happy 10th! I look forward to the next 10 years!
Thanks, Kathleen — and thank YOU for all you do, for all of us. You are amazing!
06880 is best thing since sliced bread…. and the new Y….. ; )
Thanks, Robbie. And as someone who opposed the building of the new Y, but now loves it, that’s a great compliment!
Blessings to a lovely man! ❤️ Mike
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks, Mike. I’m glad our paths crossed, all those years ago!
Hey Dan, way to go. You are Wetport’s own E. B. White, a true natural treasure. Been following you since Woog’s World began many moons ago.
Thanks, Tom. That goes back a loooong way!
Dan’s blog has become a Town treasure, a critical public forum, and a wonderful place for those who love this Town to gather. And he does it all for free, with no ads – donating to Dan’s 06880 is a no-brainer!
Thank you sir!
Congratulations on 10 years!!!
I moved to Westport a little over a year ago – divorced, two kids in middle school; so many parent friendships are formed when the kids are younger, like the ones I had – such not part of the “mommy chit chat” about goings-on – your blog has been my go to for information, entertainment, connection, enlightenment . You really put yourself in your work, clearly personally & professionally part of the fabric of Westport.
Thank you for all you do – I’m so grateful.
Can you please set up Venmo!? ☺️
Ps – with the snow day, not everyone will have the time to read today – so many people are busy dealing with power outages, shoveling snow, kids home from school – repost this as again this week I want you to get as much $$$$$$ as possible 😉
Thanks. Welcome to Westport — glad you’re connected!
I do have Venmo: It’s Dan-Woog-1 (some people may have inadvertently donated to another Dan Woog — I’m working on that).
My power was out earlier. Great idea to repost this. Thank you!
Sending my Congratulations on your great and interesting service to the residents of Westport and beyond. Very proud that you’ve kept with the column. Although I live a thousand miles away, I benefit by keeping in tune with my home town. It’s a gift. Thank you Dan!
And as long as we are thanking Dan… I’m going to thank Barry for making my wonder years even more wonderful. Many of his hits are still on rotation here in Italy and not a cocktail party ends without me telling at least one ‘Remains’ story! What a place to have grown up in… wall to wall talent.
Thanks, Barry! You may be 1,000 miles away — but you are in my heart, and those of many Westporters, forever!
Before Dorrie introduced me to 06880 a few years ago, I had just about written off Westport as a place I once knew but now had much too much money and Teardowns of the Day. If I never came back that was OK. 06880 changed all that. It reminded me of things I liked that were still there and new things as well. And I liked reading the comments from Fred and Bonnie and Wendy and Mike, and really, everyone. And Dan puts it all together. Also thru 06880 I became re-acquainted with my long-ago friend Buell in his last year. I come back to Westport once in a while, usually for the wonderful musicals by Staples Players.
Thanks, Peter. That’s what “06880” is all about: connecting the Westport of yesterday with today and, hopefully, tomorrow. It’s an honor to have you as part of our great community — online and in real time!
Happy Birthday 06880! Thanks, Dan, for creating and running such a great, interesting, fun and informative blog.
Thanks, Dave. You represent all of us out in Montana well!
Dan, thanks for all the years of keeping us ex-Westporters connected to our old hometown. Yes, you “published” my photo, posted a story from my brother, featured my Dad in both 06880 and years ago in Woog’s World in the Westport News, and featured my sister’s signs she posted around town when my parents moved to Florida. Thank you for supporting the Davis family over the years, even though none of us live in Westport anymore,
Thanks, Ed. The Davis family is great — one of the Westport treasures, no matter where you are!
Thanks so much for 10 years of hard work for all of us. 06880 is a wonderful and important gift to Westport.
Thanks, Doris!
Happy 10th…and many more. Glad to know we’re in such good company with so many subscribers. Hope 06880 will prove to a “remainder of your life” life-time occupation.
For those who don’t know Dave Harrison: He was a legendary social studies teacher. i had him for 3 years (US History, China/Japan, Economics), and he had a profound influence on me as a student, a thinker, a writer and a person. One of my greatest mentors, and proudest friends.
Hey, if I could have figured out a way to have him as a teacher for three years, I would have. Congratulations, Dan, and yes, the check is in the mail.
Thanks, Peter. You always led the way — on High Point Road, and on the track!
Dan,
Congratulations, bravo, and thank you for all you’ve done, and do, for our community.
You are, as is your blog, one of Westport’s great treasures, and a huge heart that beats at the center of this town.
Donation made, with enormous pleasure and gratitude.
Thanks, Ian – and thank YOU and Jane for all you do, for all of us! Much appreciated!
Congratulations on your 10th-year anniversary of this fabulous blog!!! Thank you for all the hard work you do to make this such a successful blog. You are a treasure to Westport. And I sincerely hope you will get donations from 100% of your readers!
Thanks, Barbara. From your lips to — well, you know. I’m glad you’re such an important and long-standing member of our great online community!
How special you are to all 10,000 of us DAN. How important to me that your 06880 exists. Thirty years away and never miss a day of your keeping me a
Westporter. Thank you again and again.
The very BEST to you. Always.
I LOVE being able to connect “old” and “new” Westport. THANKS for being a part of our great community — even from afar!
Dan, thank you, being one of your 10,000 admirers. Being away 30 years has not kept me from still feeling a Westporter thanks to your extraordinary
06880.
Best to the Wonderful you.
OOP”S thought my first message didn’t get thru!
But nice to say how appreciative I am for you again!
Dan – thank you for being our “link” to all things Westport. I greatly appreciate your talent and efforts. Your care and concern for my adopted hometown (I moved here in 1998) keeps me up-to-date while connecting me to Westport’s past. You da best!
Elaine
Thanks, Elaine — and thank you for all you do, for all of us. Of course, since you moved here in 1998 — last century — you are definitely a native!
Happy 10th! You the man, Dan! Love your “tell it like it is” blog! 🙂
Thanks, Audrey. You’ve been a loyal and wonderful reader since Day 1, right?! See you in July at our “blog party”…
Congratulations Dan and 06880. You brighten my days with your posts. You have reconnected me with so many of my friends and keep all of us up to date with our hometown. It was your Blog that put me in touch with John Suggs and his amazing work reuniting adoptees with their birth families. Finding the now grown woman who I knew when she was just a baby and before her adoption was truly a highlight for me. Our family provided respite care for her and it had been my dream to give back her baby cup. With out you pointing the way to John Suggs and his amazing work it wouldn’t have happened. Thank you for your amazing service to the town and all of us.
Mary, that is one of the greatest stories I have ever heard! If “06880” never did anything else, that would be worth it. THANKS for sharing. So unbelievably cool! I love it.
I have lived in Westport longer than any other place, 28 years. It has changed over the years but when I am frustrated with bad drivers, bigger and bigger homes, and entitled residents, your blog reminds me of what I cherish here and that our town is made up of many stories. You are the true collector and story teller for us and treat your readers with respect and, when necessary, reminding commenters about the ongoing need for that respect. Thanks, Dan, for all of it.
Wow – thanks, Fran, for those wonderful words. We are all in this together, doing what we can to make this place our home. Thanks for all you do too. And now that you’ve been here 28 years, you are definitely a townie!
Dan,
Congrats on the 10th year of your unique blog. It’s a very special glue connecting the concerned citizens of our town. You’re blog is better then a morning cup of coffee!
You’ve been a jewel to our special town of WESTPORT and we truly thank you 🙏🏼
Okay enough on the needed accolades; check PayPal ✅
Thank YOU, Scott (and Julia) for being part of this great online community. We are all in this together. Rock on!
Dan, I live in Weston, but read your daily. You are a bit of a town legend. I am happy to send a check and I hope your many readers will do so as well.
Thanks, Ray – all my best to 06883!
Dan, “06880” has done pretty much all of those things you list for many of us, and we could easily extend the catalog. Your blog is a community treasure, and we all wish you another 10 years, then at least 10 more after that!
Thanks, Mark — much appreciated. I’ll hang in there if you will!
Thanks to your commitment to our town, Dan. I can’t think of anyone who is more Westport than you. Keep on keepin’ it real.
Thank YOU, Don! Your service to Westport is legendary. We all do what we can. On we go — together!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Dan!!
As a former Westporter now living in the warmer lattitudes of south Florida, I look forward every day to a few moments of “reconnection” with the hometown of my youth.
You keep us entertained and informed… THANKS!! 😀
Thanks, Deb. The Holliday family is a huge part of Westport. I’m glad you still feel so connected. Although you probably do smirk at the snow photos.
On the other hand, just wait until July.
Congrats,Dan…the older I get the more I love your blog…I’m very out of touch with the new Westport but reading you every day brings me back to why I decided to stay put here in the same house I’ve lived in for almost 60 years….the check is in the mail!
Thanks, Audrey – I’m glad the Woog and Doniger paths crossed all those years ago!
Congrats, Dan! 10 years, wow I can’t believe it’s been that long. Love reading the stories about the older days – takes me back. Helps me keep up my game of telling people I’m going to the bowling ally (when I mean Julien’s) or the Ships (when I mean Tiffany’s) or McClellans (when I mean CVS) or Bedford El (when I mean Town Hall) or the Nike site (when I mean Bedford) or… anyway its fun and I thank you for keeping the memories alive!
Thanks, John! And right back at ya – thanks for being such an important part of Westport, for so long. The Porio family rocks!