The British came, 248 years ago. We sent ’em packing.
They came again — this time with guitars — 187 years later. We loved ’em.
Now it looks like the British are coming again. This sign now flies at the former Porch deli, on Cross Highway:
(Photo/Diane Johnson)
It certainly seems as if Gruel Brittania — the Fairfield restaurant beloved for its shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, Yorkshire pudding, mushy peas, scones and more, founded by Westporter Karen Hubrich — is moving in.
And it sounds as if the target for opening is next month.
Jolly good!
================================================
Several dozen protesters gathered on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge yesterday.
As they have every Saturday for weeks, they carried signs decrying a variety of actions by President Trump and his administration.
As with past demonstrations, there were honks and thumb’s-up signs from passing drivers.
Organizer Bean Corcoran says protests will continue every Saturday, from 11 a.m. to noon.
Among the protest targets: funding cuts to PBS. (Photo/Rowene Weems)
===============================================
Mothers Day is around the corner. (Next Sunday — get on it!)
Which means Fathers Day is not far. And that means the Yankee Doodle Fair.
The dedades-old tradition returns that weekend. Dates are Thursday and Friday, June 12 and 13 (6 to 10 p.m.); Saturday, June 14 (1 to 10 p.m.), and Sunday, June 15 (1 to 5 p.m.).
As always, there are carnival rides, games, food — you name it. Sand art is back too.
And as always, it’s a major fundraiser for the Westport Woman’s Club, where the whole shebang takes place.
Yankee Doodle comes to town.
==================================================
Speaking of the Westport Woman’s Club: There’s a Red Cross blood drive there (44 Imperial Avenue) on May 12 (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.). They provide baked goods, too.
Click here or call 800-733-2767 for an appointment.
=================================================
Westport has Winslow Park.
Tomorrow — after 9 years of effort — Weston will have its own dog park.
Weston Dog Park opens at 22 Lords Highway East, on part of the Moore property — land purchased by the town more than 2 decades ago for $2.3 million, specifically for municipal use.
Construction, design and the first years of maintenance are funded through grants like ARPA, gifts from private individuals, and a contribution in memory of late 2nd Selectman Brian Gordon.
It will be open 9 a.m. to sunset. Click here for more information.
Happy days (and dogs) in Weston.
==================================================
Plenty of Staples High School’s athletic teams do great community service work.
Few do it better than the boys lacrosse program.
Every year, they try to raise $50,000 for Sticks for Soldiers. Every year, 100% of their funds help combat-wounded veterans and their families.
This year, they’re selling custom Sticks for Soldiers shirts and hats. Orders are being taken online (click here) through May 7. (Under “team,” select “Staples HS Sticks for Soldiers 2025”; the password is Sticks2025).
The annual Sticks for Soldiers game is May 19. Hats and shirts can be picked up there.
Apparel questions? Email teamstore@macwear.com. Lacrosse Sticks for Soldiers questions? Email a.vengrow@ven2port.com.
Sticks for Soldiers gear.
================================================
Mary Scott Himes is this month’s gueste exhibitor, at the Westport Book Shop.
Her prints explore questions of identity and the female body.
She says, “I started making things again during my treatments for breast cancer in 2021. Cancer has taken many things from me, but my art practice is what I took from it.
“In the public realm, married to Representative Jim Himes, I play a role. I am a person whom people think they know. This leads to questions about how we create identity: how the different layers of history and mass culture and personal experience bond together to make us who we are.
“My nascent art practice focuses mostly on printmaking because I love the spatial thinking, the variety of techniques, and the collaborative creative process it offers.”
Himes co-founded and was executive director of The Unload Foundation. The Connecticut arts initiative developed educational and cultural events to raise awareness around issues relating to gun rights and gun violence.
A reception is set for May 27 (6 to 7:30 p.m.). To RSVP, email RSVP@westportbooksaleventures.org or call 203-349-5141.
Mary Himes, at the Westport Book Shop.
=================================================
Swimming season has begun.
At Burying Hill Beach, anyway.
These 2 intrepid bathers took to the water yesterday.
The air was warm. The water … judging from their reactions, less so.
(Photos/Rob Grodman)
A reminder: Stickers are now required to park at all Westport beaches.
==================================================
The opening of the new Finalmente Restaurant on Post Road East — across from Design Within Reach and next to Jeera Thai — “has exceeded our expectations,” says owner Giuseppe Cinque.
He asked “06880” to pass along this message: “We are deeply grateful for the warm congratulations and heartfelt welcome we’ve received from the Westport community. It’s been truly moving, and more meaningful than we could have imagined.”
==================================================
Today’s “Westport … Naturally” image comes from Longshore. It’s one more reminder of how lucky we are to live here — especially in May.
(Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)
==================================================
And finally … in honor of the (probable) new operator of The Porch (story above):
(From the UK to the Ruth Steinkraus Bridge — and everywhere in between — “06880” brings you Westport-oriented news you can use. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Congratulations to the Staples High School Boys Lacrosse team with their “Sticks for Soldiers” program! Charitable stories like this, should always be your lead story – this blog is an approved charitable 501(c)(3); please adhere to the IRS 501(c)(3) guidelines, not reporting on your blatantly biased political agenda…
Everything that’s a part of this story is in line with 06880’s mission statement (see here: https://06880danwoog.com/donate/ or here: https://members.westportchamber.com/members/member/06880-inc-712). Note the piece about writing stories on the town’s politics, which was exactly what was being done here. By my reading this was purely descriptive; no opinion was being shared.
I suspect your real beef is either with a) the town’s politics, which leans liberal or b) The IRS deciding to grant 06880 501(c)(3) status in the first place, or some combination of both.
My suggestion is to consider one or more of the following:
– Send Dan examples of notable political activities in town that lean conservative so he can report on these as well, instead of just complaining that he’s reporting on the liberal-leaning ones.
– Petition the IRS to change the tax-exemption rules for 501(c)(3) organizations. Perhaps this is already underway with the current administration (although I suspect that a number of similar entities from conservative-leaning towns would be impacted by any honest change in policy here).
– If you really can’t take political stories that you don’t like being mixed in with other non-political stories, stop reading the blog, or move out of Westport to a town that better aligns with your politics.
06880 is a great resource and Dan does an awesome job-a one man band extraordinaire for sure. Have to comment on your “town leans liberal” comment. Like saying Genghis Khan was unkind at times! As I’ve commented here before, many Westporters need to travel the country and see why the Wepo bubble is nowhere close to representative of the country.
Ok, so replace “leans liberal” with “is very liberal.” Point remains: If your stated mission includes covering the town’s politics and the town is liberal, it follows that many of the stories you write will be about activities that have a liberal slant. (This will of course be exacerbated if the town’s Republican committee will not add you to their mailing list…)
If I moved to some town in Oklahoma, I would fully expect whatever local blog to cover more activities that have a conservative bent. Would seem silly to disparage that person performing a community service simply because their coverage reflects the political makeup of the area (to be clear, I’m not accusing you of doing the disparaging). But maybe the conservatives in small town Oklahoma should travel the country and see why their bubble is nowhere close to representative of the rest of the country?
I think it’s important to distinguish between coverage that reflects a town’s political makeup and coverage that passively reinforces one side without scrutiny.
The Oklahoma analogy falls apart because it assumes that leaning into the dominant ideology of an area is inherently neutral or acceptable. But if a conservative outlet in a red town only covers right-leaning causes uncritically, we’d call that biased – not balanced. The same standard should apply in liberal towns.
The core issue isn’t whether a town leans left or right, it’s whether local media is challenging its majority culture with real journalistic skepticism. Reflecting the community is one thing. Echoing it without critical distance is another.
And regarding the “bubble” comment, every town has one. Pretending only conservatives live in ideological bubbles while liberal strongholds are somehow above it just reinforces the same problem from a different angle.
Don’t want to put words in Dan’s mouth, but I very much see 06880 as a reflection of the community – reporting on events, charitable causes, local businesses, and yes, political activities – not some hard-hitting investigative journalism magazine that needs to be questioning every political activity of its citizens.
And 100% disagree on the Oklahoma analogy. If there’s an 06880 equivalent in a red town somewhere that, say, reported on a local protest against vaccine mandates or immigration policy during the Biden administration, along with featuring charitable causes, local business activities, etc, I’d say this is serving the same noble purpose as 06880, but simply reflecting a more conservative community. And I’d challenge whatever liberal contingent there is to either highlight other political activities for the blogmaster to feature or start their own blog.
Appreciate the perspective, but I think this misses a key point: being a reflection of the community doesn’t mean avoiding scrutiny of it. Even if a site isn’t doing full investigative journalism, there’s still a responsibility to provide context, balance, and occasionally challenge the dominant narrative especially when politics are involved.
The Oklahoma analogy doesn’t hold because it assumes parity where there isn’t any. A red-town blog reporting on anti-vaccine protests under Biden is inherently critical of the federal administration – that’s oppositional coverage. In contrast, 06880 often reports on liberal causes that align with local or national leadership, without much critical distance. That’s not the same dynamic.
If we believe local journalism should reflect its community, fine but reflection shouldn’t mean reinforcement without perspective. That’s how bubbles grow. A platform doesn’t need to become “hard-hitting investigative journalism” to ask thoughtful questions or broaden the scope of what it chooses to highlight.
Ryan, if there is a pro-Trump rally, I will of course post photos and details of that. Just let me know when and where it’s occurring.
And our “Opinion” pages are open to all. If you’d like to send a piece on, say, why tariffs will be a boon to Westport, I’m happy to take a look. Just remember that all stories on “06880” should have a local perspective. Thanks.
Thanks, Matt – much appreciated.
Russ, FYI: I have asked several times to be put on the mailing list of the Republican Town Committee, so I can report on their activities. So far, for reasons I do not know, I have not been added.
I am happy to report on any activities in town — organizational, educational, recreational, political, you name it. I cannot do it alone. Story ideas and photos can always be sent to 06880blog@gmail.com.
Russ Considine doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But it’s fun to watch him pretend!
Tom, when you’re not continuously being the online 06880 bully, what do you do for fun?
Or were you bullied K-12 and you’re dealing with your inadequacies?
Telling people what to write and how to write it, mentioning their nonprofit status as a “negotiating” tool, is creepy, un-American, and the definition of bullying. Thanks for the armchair insights.
Seem to be several super judgemental people around! Spare us!
We loved Finalmente! Pietro and I were joined by two of our friends, one was Pietro‘s old work buddy from the Cobbs Mill Inn. both guys are from Ischia, and they thought the food was spot on. We had three different types of octopus that night they thought it was amazingly authentic. I had some delicious pasta. Giuseppe is the real deal, warm and gracious! The staff is friendly. Congrats to you all!
Can’t wait for Karen to bring her great food a little closer to home!!
We are lucky to have this Local Westoort Chef at this historic Cross Highway location!
HMMMMM; How “liberal” can Westport be when a Trump supporter was elected First Select Person?
Thrilled that the British are coming to my neighborhood!
Those of us who grew up with Dan love him unconditionally and that includes his politics. It’s not his fault that Westport has become so plastic he just reports he doesn’t judge. As long as he draws a breath I’ll give him the same hug and smile I’d give the craziest loon in the insane asylum. That’s the kind of guy I am. But mark my words: When Dan’s gig on this blog is over you’ll have to come up with your own platitudes to support. Now go back to wherever it is you came from and have a good day no matter what you may think.