=================================================
The new operators of the Longshore Inn have big plans.
This afternoon (Wednesday, March 31, 5:30 p.m.), Charles Mallory — CEO of Greenwich Hospitality Group, which runs the very successful Delamar Hotels — joins Dave Briggs on Instagram Live to reveal what’s ahead.
Listen — and respond in real time — via @WestportMagazine. You can send questions on Instagram ahead of time too: @DaveBriggsTV.
=======================================================
The Westport Transit District recently replaced its previous fixed route system with Wheels2U Westport service, an on-demand, door-to-train station group shuttle service.
As part of the changeover, posters advertising the 50-year-old fixed route service at the Saugatuck train station were replaced with new ones highlighting the advantages of Wheels2U.
The Westport Transit District donated one of those now-historic fixed route posters to the Westport Museum for History & Culture yesterday. for its collection.
With Metro-North ridership beginning to pick up again, Wheels2U provides a convenient, reliable, and inexpensive way to get to and from the Westport and Greens Farms train stations. It serves a larger portion of Westport and meets more trains than the prior fixed route service.
Riders can order a ride using the Wheels2U phone app, be picked up at their door and then dropped off at the station platform at any time between 5:45 and 9:45 a.m., and 4 and 8 p.m. Reverse commuters can take the shuttle from the train station to their jobs almost anywhere in Westport for less than other alternatives.
Future plans for the WTD include getting more employees to their jobs, shoppers to stores, and seniors to the Senior Center.
For Wheels2U Westport’s service area, fares and other information, click here. For information about Westport Transit’s door-to-door services for the elderly and people with a disability, click here.
Westport Transit District director Peter Gold presents Westport Museum of History & Culture collections director Nicole Carpenter with a now-historic Westport Transit District poster.
=======================================================
Yesterday, the State Senate unanimously approved legislation to extend outdoor dining in Connecticut through March 31, 2022.
Local zoning or planning officials still have the final power to permit or expand outdoor dining. The law minimizes paperwork like site surveys or traffic studies, in order to expedite the process.
Earlier this month, Westport’s Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to extend outdoor dining here until further notice.
Outdoor dining on Church Lane last year.
=====================================================
The ospreys are back — and not just at Fresh Market.
Chris Swan spotted one pair of the magnificent raptors at the nesting platform on Sherwood Mill Pond. He saw another on the saltmarsh at the end of Beachside Common, behind the Nature Center at Sherwood Island State Park. Welcome home to those two happy couples!
A Fresh Market — not Sherwood Island — osprey. (Photo.Carolyn Doan)
======================================================
Patagonia is holding a food drive for Homes with Hope. Bring non-perishable goods like canned chicken, tuna, salmon and soup, mayonnaise, peanut butter and jelly, cereal and pasta source to the downtown store.
They also sell “Patagonia Provisions” — items that can be bought, then given away. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)
(Photo/Lauri Weiser)
===================================================
Taylor Whiteside (Whitey) Bailey, a Wesport native and member of a prominent Westport family, died March 18 in Escondido, California of natural causes. He was 88 years old.
He was the 5th child of Franklin and Mary Alice Bailey. His mother was well known here as the assistant to Miss Irene Comer at her dancing school, held in the second floor ballroom of the Westport YMCA. His father was the stepson of Arthur Dare Whiteside, a founder and president of Dun & Bradstreet, and one of the early developers of the Sylvan Road and Nash’s Pond areas of Westport.
Bailey’s brother and sisters included Mary Bailey Beck, Ann Bailey Hall, Franklin Bailey, Jr. and Dare Bailey Wells, all deceased. Joan Whiteside was his step-sister.
Bailey attended Bedford Elementary School and Bedford Junior High School, and was a 1950 graduate of Staples High School. He was a competitive swimmer at Longshore Country Club and a lifeguard at Compo Beach.
He joined the U.S. Marines after high school, and served overseas from 1950-53 during the Korean War. While stationed with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, he was chosen to be the jeep driver in the movie “Retreat, Hell.”
Bailey and his first wife, Allison Norris Bailey, moved to California from Westport in the late 1950s. The former sales manager of Pace Arrow motor home company, he spent the last 25 years of his life in Fallbrook, California.
Allison Norris Bailey and Mr. Bailey’s second wife, Jan Bailey, are deceased.
He is survived by twin sons Kim W. Bailey and Timothy Norris Bailey, both of Westport; Will Mason Bailey of Maui, and 3 grandchildren.
Taylor Whiteside Bailey
=======================================================
Sure, you can have all the apps and video games you want. But there’s nothing like flying a good old-fashioned kite.
The good news: Tomorrow will be windy. The bad news: It may rain.
Amy Schneider spotted this colorful kite yesterday, at Compo Beach:
(Photo/Amy Schneider)
=====================================================
And finally … happy 336th birthday, to Johann Sebastian Bach!
The ospreys are back at Longshore,too!
Is this when they announce the building of the Hall & Oates Concert Hall on the site where the Inn at Longshore stands?
If you have no idea what John is referring to, check out this story: https://06880danwoog.com/2014/01/06/hall-and-oates-westport-went-for-that/
Back in 1956, when I was 15, my twin brother, Craig, and I went to Miss Comer’s Dancing Class. Look Magazine did a 6 page article on the two of us going to learn the Social Graces and how to do the waltz and foxtrot, and to be sure to bow and thank your partner. Miss. Comer was fantastic. Learning to dance and the “Social Graces” was the beginning of a wonderful social life.
Hi Dan-
I love that you celebrated Bach’s birthday twice this year – once on March 21st (Old Style) and today (New Style) (Although you were off by a century on March 21st!)
In both posts you included a link for a performance of the St. Matthew Passion, which, IMHO, is the pinnacle of human artistic achievement. Until Covid, I would attend a performance every spring in a different church in NYC. So thanks for trying to fill in the gap for me!
The last live performance I saw was at a small church in Chelsea by a brilliant group called TENET Vocal Artists. I just got an email that they’ve posted the performance online for free until April 3rd. Here’s the link for anyone who’s interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJD8JAbzQH0
Fun Fact: Bach was writing the St. Matthew Passion at about the same time my (former) house was being built here in Westport (c. 1727-8).