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Summer Sunday beach services return tomorrow (June 27).
All season long, parishioners and clergy from 4 Congregational churches (Saugatuck, Greens Farms Congregational, Norfield and Wilton), plus United Methodist Church, gather on Sundays at 8:30 a.m., at Compo Beach near the cannons.
It’s BYOC (bring your own chair). You don’t need a beach sticker — just tell the gate attendant you’re attending the service. Dress code is casual; flip-flops and nice shorts are fine. (Hat tip: Karen Como)
Sunday morning service at Compo Beach. (Photo courtesy of Saugatuck Congregational Church)
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Henry Wynne stumbled in the Olympic Trials 1500 meter race. But the 2013 Staples High School and 2017 University of Virginia graduate — now sponsored by Brooks Running — qualified for the finals nonetheless.
The big race is tomorrow (Sunday, June 27, 7:40 p.m. EDT). NBC Sports airs it live. Westporters will be tuning it, to watch Henry reach his Tokyo dreams.
Henry Wynne (Photo/Will Hoffman for Runner’s World)
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Every 2 years, Art Committee members conduct a town- and school-wide inventory of every object in the Westport Public Art Collections.
This year is the most comprehensive yet. They’re not only updating locations, but also measuring every object in the database and cared for by the town.
Including the Compo Beach cannons!
(From left) Eve Potts and her sister Marion Morra take the measure of the Compo cannons. (Photo/Kathie Motes Bennewitz)
Can guess the width, length and depth of the entire monument? Click “Comments: below.
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Aspetuck Land Trust is about to get more land.
On July 1, the non-profit organization — currently focused on Westport, Weston, Easton and Fairfield — merges with the Monroe Land Trust and Tree Conservancy.
That adds another 20 acres to ALT. They will own or manage more than 2,000 acres of conserved land, with a total membership of over 1,700 people.
Land trusts preserve land through purchase, conservation easements or donations of property. Preserved properties are important habitats for plants and wildlife. They protect water quality, agricultural land, and scenic and historic places. For more information, click here.
Aspetuck River, at the Newman-Poses Preserve (Photo/Seth Schachter)
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The Planning & Zoning Commission has some interesting proposals to consider.
On Wednesday (June 30, 12 noon), the Regulation Review Subcommittee will discuss possible changes related to improved recreational opportunities and amenities, to complement the Senior Center.
They’ll also talk about expanded outdoor dining regulation impacts, in consideration of creating more permanent rules. Click here for more information.
On July 8 (6 p.m.), they’ll review a text amendment and application to redevelop 1460 Post Road East — the current site of Julian’s Pizza, BevMax and more — to accommodate a new medical office tenant. The existing medical marijuana dispensary would remain. Click here for more information.
1460 Post Road East. Rio Bravo restaurant closed last summer.
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Tomorrow (Sunday, June 27) is National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day. To raise awareness, Westport’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399 is supporting a 10-mile march.
It begins at 8:30 a.m. at Darien VFW Post 6933, and ends at the Westport VFW Post on Riverside Avenue. Click here to donate.
VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399.
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This week’s #FridayFlowers project has special resonance for the Westport Garden Club.
Their latest work, at the Nevada Hitchcock Park on the corner of Cross Highway and Weston Road, includes perennials from members’ gardens. The flowers promote pollination — and the park commemorates Nevada Hitchcock, a founding member of the club.
#FridayFlowers at Nevada Hitchcock Park.
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“The Breakfast Club” is the quintessential high school film. More than 35 years after its release, it still nails the experience.
Of course, some things have changed since 1985. You can learn how on Monday. The classic movie is Monday’s (June 28, 8:45 p.m.) Remarkable Theater feature. It will be preceded by a short video starring 12 graduates from Staples High School’s Class of 2021. Click here for tickets, and more information.
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On Thursday, MoCA Westport hosted a reception for its summer exhibitions: “Love Wins” (a mural created in conjunction with Westport Pride), “Unfit for Print” (including Staples High School graduate Noah Fox), and “Élan Vital” (with the works of 11 artists selected by Staples alum Max Teicher and Emily White). Works of the Congressional Art Competition are also on view.
The exhibitions run through August 21. Click here for details.
Noah Fox, with his work. (Photo/Maddy Martin)
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There are 3 days left in Pride Month. And 3 days left to buy Pride products, like hoodies and coffee cups, from Finding Westport.
10% of all proceeds are donated to Westport Pride. Click here to see what’s available, and order.
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Happy 1st anniversary to Don Memo!
Owner Bill Taibe took a risk — opening a new restaurant in the midst of a pandemic — but it’s paid off. His fun, creative take on Mexican fare packs in crowds every night next to Barnes & Noble. (Or, as much older Westporters remember it, in “the old Town Hall”).
There’s plenty of room for outdoor dining. Plenty of music. And plenty of great food!
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Lauri Weiser calls today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo “Lurking in the Grasses.” How much wildlife can you spot?
(Photo/Lauri Weiser)
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And finally … happy 78th birthday to the great British jazz/rock/R&B musician Georgie Fame. He’s still performing, with the likes of Van Morrison, Bill Wyman and Alan Price.
He’s probably best known for his “Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.” But my favorite is this 1964 classic, “Yeh Yeh”:
PS: Yeh, yeh, it’s hard to hear the lyrics. Here you go:
Every evening, when all my day’s work is through
I call my baby, and ask her what shall we do
I mention movies, but she don’t seem to dig that
And then she asks me, why don’t I come to her flat
And have some supper and let the evening pass by
By playing records besides a groovy hi-fi
I say yeh yeh, and that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh
My baby loves me, she gets a feeling so fine
And when she love me, she makes me know that she’s mine
And when she kisses, I feel the fire get hot
She never misses, she gives it all that she’s got
And when she asks me if everything is okay
I got my answer, the only thing I can say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh
We’ll play a melody and
Turn the lights down low so that none can see
We gotta do that, we gotta do that
We gotta do that, we gotta do that
And there’ll be no one else alive
In all the world ‘cept you and me
Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh
Yeh yeh, yeh yeh
Pretty baby, I never knew such a thrill
Just thought I’d tell you, because I’m trembling still
But pretty baby, I want you all for my own
I think I’m ready to leave those others alone
Don’t need to ask me if everything is OK
I got my answer, the only thing I can say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh
We’ll play a melody and
Turn the lights down low so that none can see
We gotta do that, we gotta do that
We gotta do that, we gotta do that
And there’ll be no one else alive
In all the world ‘cept you and me
Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh yeh, yeh yeh
Oh pretty baby, I never knew such a thrill
Just thought I’d tell you, because I’m trembling still
But pretty baby, I want you all for my own
I think I’m ready to leave those others alone
Don’t need to ask me if everything is okay
I got my answer, the only thing I can say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh, that’s what I say
I say yeh yeh
That’s what I say, I say yeh yeh
That’s what I say, I say yeh yeh
That’s what I say, yeah
cannons – 3m L?
The slash and burn P&Z commission leadership in conjunction with the Park and Rec. Chair want to get rid of passive recreational open space and put pickle ball courts on Barons South. This is a Trojan horse, again. Since it is a text ammendment there is no neighbor notification required.
The pickle ball players stated at the last meeting they are not in favor of this location. They told the committee they prefer the beach area. J. Walshon stated that the pb players felt they were being used to break the open space zoning . A very false story concocted by a non pickle ball playing PRC chair was presented to the sub committee as fact.
Where are the studies and numbers supporting the need?
Why did the Parks and rec people allow the tree wardon to log the property?
There were 3000 trees taken down and they decimated an old growth forest. The importance of trees for sustaining human life is lost on this bunch.
Why hasn’t the Parks and Rec director maintained this property? Why has she not implemented the landscape plan that was completed years ago?
This story is playing out the same way it did last time around. Special interest groups are using pickle ball as the Trojan Horse this time.. The well intentioned sr. Center and human services directors are being used again.
Trust me , this is not the real project. D.Dobin said it was the first step in the last subcommittee meeting. Its summer, meetings are virtual and no notice required to be sent to neighbors who will have to deal with noise and traffic.
But hey..they don t care because its not their neighborhood. None of the P&Z or Parks and Rec. Commissioners live in this neighborhood. None of them hike the property like the hundreds of people who regularly take advantage of this beautiful spot .
Neighbors, pay attention, this is not about pickle ball.
For readers’ information the benign-sounding language, “discuss possible changes related to improved recreational opportunities and amenities, to complement the Senior Center” misses/hides the point.
The conversation here is about removing the protection of the passive open space designation from the Baron’s South land. The attempt is not to enhance the Senior Center (which recently was done), but to do away with its preservation to put more recreational courts and possibly other facilities there. This can put other open space areas at risk, too.
We need more open space, not less. Please don’t let this happen.
I agree with the Baron’s South comments made by Cathy Walsh and Wendy Batteau above. I attended (virtually) D. Dobin’s last meeting regarding the pickleball pitch for Baron’s South. There was no member of the public (including a few current and ex-RTM members) who supported this idea. Even Westport’s pickleball spokesman, J. Walshon gave it a thumbs down.
Who/what’s driving this initiative when there is zero public support for it? It should have been deemed dead in the water after the last meeting.
A much better idea would be to use town funding to actually (1) fix-up the walking paths ruined by the logging project, (2) remove the mound dumped in the meadow created by the spoils generated by the Sr. Ctr. addition project, and (3) create a pollinator meadow in this same location as pitched by previous proposals.
A level, pollinator meadow would allow seniors and the public to easily walk its pathways. This would comply with the current passive-use open-space designation. And it would be the perfect use for a much larger percentage of Westport’s population, i.e. those who don’t or can’t play pickelball.
Amen to the superb comments by former P&Z Commissioner Walsh, RTM member Batteau and former Parks & Rec Commissioner, Crowther. As a taxpayer (and a Baron’s South neighbor) I certainly don’t appreciate what this stealthy P&Z sub-committee seems to be attempting. In any event, the wholesale destruction of this once beautiful park is a complete scandal. Here’s my unsolicited suggestion to P&Z: force the town to eat its own cooking and remove the thousands of yards of contaminated fill it got caught illegally dumping in the park (in order to save a lousy 15K from the Senior Center expansion budget). You guys know perfectly well that this outrageous site plan violation is the reason the Senior Center is operating without a CO.
The events of the last day of the Olympic Trials have been pushed back five hours because of the extreme heat in Oregon. Henry Wynne won’t be racing until after midnight Eastern Time but, hey, if you stay up that late, the race will still be televised.on NBCSN.