As the reopening of school nears, stress levels are high. And they’re not just confined to adults.
Positive Directions — Westport’s not-for-profit center for counseling and mental health issues — offers tips for supporting a child with concerns about going back to school. Click here to read.
The Dead are coming to Westport.
Well, at least Terrapin: A Grateful Dead Experience, is. They draw raves, with their state-of-the-art equipment and true Garcia/Weir channeling.
They’re the next band for “Support & Soul,” the Westport- Weston Chamber of Concert/Westport Library drive-in collaboration.
Previous Supper & Soul shows — with Mystic Bowie, the Tom Petty Project and Mullett — have sold out.
Tickets are $100 per car (5 people max). The go on sale this Friday (August 28, 10 a.m.; click here). The Chamber urges concert-goers to support local restaurants, by ordering takeout for the show.
Registration began this morning for Westport’s Parks & Recreation fall programs. They include tennis clinics, Sports Squirts, IST Baseball and virtual at-home programs. Among the new programs: Skyhawks Hoopster Tots, Overtime Athletics Big Swing Whiffleball and High Fives Running Club.
Click here to see all programs, and to register.
Registration for Wakeman Town Farm’s fall programs will also be done through the Parks & Recreation department; just click here. Offerings include the Mommy (and Daddy) + Me “Little Farmers,” new Music Together classes, and programs for teens. All are safe, socially distanced and outdoors .
Questions about any program, or how to register online? Email recreation@westportct.gov, or call 203-341-5152.
An alert reader writes:
“In June of 2018, my wife was checking some flowers in our garden. She heard some rustling behind a large bush, and out popped a white deer.
“This prompted a bit of research. Only 1% of deer in the Northeast are white. In various cultures the white deer has some positive mythological significance. It can be viewed as a message from another world or the hereafter. This was startling to us, but in a good way.
“Two weeks before our first sighting, our family had put to rest a loved one just up the hill in the Christ & Holy Trinity Cemetery. So who knows?
“We continue to see the deer (there may now be 2) sporadically. Neighbors say she (or they) are often sighted throughout Old Hill.”
Musicians everywhere have missed connecting with live audiences.
But when members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts and touring team attended the American String Quartet concert at MoCA Westport last month, they saw the potential in the museum’s outdoor stage, vast grounds, and the way attendees maintained social distancing
So MoCA proudly announces a new concert event. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Spotlight features the Alexa Tarantino Quartet on Friday, September 4 (7 p.m, MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike).
Tarantino is an award-winning, vibrant young jazz saxophonist, woodwind doubler and composer. Jazz Times’ Critics Poll named her a Top 5 Alto Saxophonist of 2019.
Concertgoers bring their own lawn chairs and food. There are food and drink trunks on the grounds, too. Click here for tickets, or call 203-222-7070.
Alex Tarantino
Saugatuck Rowing Club past commodore Carol Randel and her team — the Randelles — are leading a fundraiser to help people fighting cancer gain access to healthy food.
The “Row for Recovery” event addresses an unseen problem. Area residents must often decide between food and medical treatment. The pandemic has made the situation more dire.
Row for Recovery — set for Saturday, September 12 at the Rowing Club on Riverside Avenue — will help Norwalk Hospital’s Whittingham Cancer Center provide prepaid grocery store cards to people needing good nutrition during cancer treatment. $100 feeds a family of 4 for a month.
Click here to register, and for a course map.
Carol Randel
Amy Berkin writes: “I was downtown for a meeting, and wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee on a bench by the river. Look at this! It’s awful that people are not throwing away trash, and no garbage cans are out. Very sad for the town, and the wildlife in the river.
(Photo/Amy Berkin)
And finally … today is National Dog Day! Arf!
We have lived in the Old Hill neighborhood for over 20 years and the white deer have been our neighbors the entire time! I too loved them when I arrived, but now wish they would eat elsewhere….. My gardens and trees have been destroyed, year after year, and I no longer think of them as “good luck!”
I don’t understand why trash cans were removed. Does Covid live in trash cans?
Merri mueller
I walk through this area almost every day. I can attest to the fact that there is always garbage lying around. Also, there is garbage in the river itself including large red traffic cones in the river (clearly visible at low tide on the Bartaco side) which have been sitting there for years. I’ve brought the matter to top town officials in the past and nothing has been done. Certainly, this trash could be easily kept to a minimum with a very minor effort. Personally, I’d be happy to volunteer to be part of a clean up crew or simply do it myself. Unfortunately, bureaucracy will not allow that.
I have seen litter even when there are nearly receptacles nearby. Really, how difficult is it to carry your item(s) away until they can be properly disposed of?
I hope people consider simply picking up the trash and disposing of it. Not difficult. Makes a difference.
Don Bergmann
I have lived in town for over 45 years and grew up on The Saugatuck river seen Many deer. I heard about a white one but never saw it. Thank you for sharing the photo….it’s like seeing Bigfoot.
Indeed, folks, the dead ARE coming to Westport, and it is the stupid, woefully ignorant and shockingly Covid denying opening of schools that will bring them.