There are way too many Westport restaurants to cram into one week.
So the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce’s annual Restaurant Week will be two.
It runs Sunday, September 29 through Sunday, October 13. (So, to be technical, it actually spans two months)..
The 2024 event features 20 venues, offering a variety of prix fixe meals to suit any interest and pocketbook. They range from one end of Westport, and Saugatuck, all the way to an honorary spot in Southport.
Some restaurants offer just lunch, others just dinner. Many serve both.
Here are the participating restaurants. Click on any link below for specific details.
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Each year, the Staples High School PTA sponsors a Back to School Night Food Drive to support the Westport Woman’s Club.
From 2020 to mid-2024, the WWC has provided 1,094 bags of food in response to 124 anonymous requests, benefiting 345 people through the Westport Department of Human Services.
This year, the PTA invites parents, teachers and community members — both from Staples and beyond— to participate.
There’s an easy way to participate — right now. Just click here to shop through the Amazon food drive registry. Donations will be delivered directly to the Westport Woman’s Club.
But hurry! The registry is open only through Monday (September 30).
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Peter Hirst and Ethan Gallogly have 2 things in common: They live out West, and have hiked the John Muir Trail.
And they’re both Staples High School graduates, 15 years apart (1968 and ’83, respectively).
They met and bonded over their shared love for the beauty, challenge and history of the 211-mile trail, which stretches along the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US.
Hirst — a longtime “06880” reader — wants others to read Gallogly’s book. After an eclectic career, he wrote a novel called, simply, “The Trail.”
It combines trail lore, humor and philosophy. Using characters he’s met on his own hikes, and including 43 maps, Gallogly writes about overcoming loss, and ultimately, transformation.
“Recreation is ‘re-creation,'” Gallogly observes.
It’s a book, he says, for “any outdoor enthusiast, and anyone going through stress, grief or problems.”
Click here to order, and for more information.
Ethan Gallogly, on the John Muir Trail.
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For years, the United Methodist Church of Westport has joined the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, to help settle newcomers to the area.
Among their work: buying comforters for every new neighbor they settle.
This Sunday (September 29), they’ll raise funds for that project.
First, at 4 p.m., is an uplifting Jazz Vespers service of music and word. Andrew Wilcox and Trio’s music includes original pieces and hymn reflections. Interspersed with the music will be prayers and scripture readings — “a peaceful and meditative end to the weekend,” says Rev. Heather Sinclair.
That’s followed at 5 by a pasta supper.
Everyone is invited. “Pay what you wish: $5, $20, $50 or more,” UMC says. “It all goes to our CIRI apartment set-up team.”
To RSVP, click here.
(Photo/Dan Woog)
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Rob and Julie Haroun were celebrated yesterday, at the Westport Library.
The Westport couple has improved and maintained the landscaping outside the building.
Among their improvements: a new irrigation system and plantings along Jesup Green, the Riverwalk path, and the hill below the café deck.
A plaque was dedicated to their generosity, near the entrance.
From left: Westport Library board president Pat Wieser, Julie and Rob Haroun, Library executive director Bill Harmer. (Photo/Michael Szeto)
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Since the end of beach season — well, except for the diehards — the (relatively) new pier has belonged to gulls.
Lucy Zeko — who had the place to herself — took today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo.
(Photo/Lucy Zeko)
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And finally … in honor of Restaurant Week (story above):
(You can give anything you want, to “06880.” Just click here to support our hyper-local work. Thank you!)
I knew Ethan Gallogly as a student when I taught in Westport. He was an interesting young man then. As a lifelong hiker and having done sections of the JMT, his book The Trail brings me back to my hiking days. I’ve actually read his book several times. The second time, I traced and marked the route described in the book on my 13 Tom Harrison maps of the JMT. The book is dead accurate. Each time through The Trail, I am brought back to those high mountain passes where you pause, turn 306 degrees and see nothing but wilderness and mountains. Words fail. Photos too can’t capture the wilderness experience. But Ethan’s book comes pretty close. It is a great book and it is great being reacquainted with him again. Cheers!