Monthly Archives: August 2025

Roundup: Nathan Lane, Suzanne Sheridan, Linda Ronstadt …

Posted on August 2, 2025 | 5 comments

The Westport Country Playhouse gala just got even gala-ier.

On October 4, the historic theater honors Tony Award-winning singer/actor/ writer Nathan Lane, for his decades of contributions to American arts.

From his roles in “The Birdcage” and “The Producers,” as the voice of Timon in “The Lion King,” and through TV shows like “Sex and the City,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “30 Rock,” Lane is a much-admired star.

The gala — which will also celebrate the contributions of the Playhouse’s legendary Anne Keefe — includes cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, live music, a raffle and auction, performances, and an after-party.

Click here for tickets, and more information.

Sponsorships at the $4,000, $6,000 and $10,000 level are available. Call 203-571-1131, or email rdavis@westportplayhouse.org.

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After 31 years as townwide director of information technology, Eileen Zhang left big shoes to fill.

On Monday, Alberto Vargas steps into them.

With more than 20 years’ experience leading digital transformation, modernizing enterprise systems and strengthening cybersecurity in public and private sectors, he is well qualified.

Most recently, Vargas served as director of IT and business relationship manager for ATG Entertainment. He oversaw technology strategy, cloud migrations, cybersecurity enhancements and digital service modernization across 19 North American venues.

Earlier, he spent over 8 years with the New York City Department of Finance. He also held senior roles in the financial sector at Citi.

Alberto Vargas

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The times, they are a-changin’.

New signs will be installed Monday, reflecting revised parking limits downtown.

They’ll go from 3 hours to 2 hours (daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on these streets:

  • Main Street
  • Elm Street
  • Church Lane
  • Bay Street
  • Jesup Road.

Town-owned parking lots will retain their current 3-hour and all-day options.

Soon to be removed — for on-street parking only.

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Alo opened only this week. (With a line dozens deep, waiting to get inside the Main Street space, formerly occupied by Oka.)

But the activewear brand is wasting no time getting involved in the community.

Tomorrow (August 3, 9:30 a.m.), Sarah Sadie Newett leads a Recovery Wellness Walk. It is “all about slowing down, setting intentions, and finding balance through mindful movement and meditation. It’s a chance to release stress, reconnect with yourself, and be with community.”

Click here to register. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)

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Speaking of openings: LaSource joined Alo (above) and Beyond Yoga, as downtown’s newest stores. All 3 launched this week.

LaSource’s 7 Church Lane location (near Emmy Squared) marks its 3rd boutique in the area. The first 2 are in Darien and New Canaan.

LaSource offers “elevated lingerie, swim, resort, and loungewear for women, thoughtful gifts for the women we adore, complimentary bra fittings with expert guidance, plus seasonal edits, styling appointments and in-store events.”

A grand opening celebration will be announced soon.

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What’s free in Westport this weekend?

The Levitt Pavilion hosts 2 shows.

Low Cut Connie’s piano-driven rock is on tonight (Saturday) at 7:30 p.m.

Tomorrow, Stella Blue’s Band, honoring The Days Between, takes the stage at 7.

Click here for free tickets, and more information.

Low Cut Connie

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Speaking of the Levitt: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Suzanne Sheridan brings her tribute to Linda Ronstadt to riverside venue on August 12.

The show includes a great band: Bob Cooper, Tim DeHuff, Dave Edwards, Joe Sullivan and Kim Manning.

Sheridan performs as locally as the First Folk Sunday music series, and as internationally as The Bitter End, Gertie’s Folk City, and in Canada and Australia.

Click here for tickets to Sheridan (and Ronstadt’s) free show. 

Suzanne Sheridan

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The Westport Book Shop’s featured August exhibitor does not have to go far to see her own work.

Rachel Hall is Westport Police Department detective by profession, and a photographer by passion. She specializes in both digital and aerial photography, capturing landscapes with a unique perspective that often highlights mood, texture and atmosphere.

The Book Shop is located just a few yards from Police headquarters, on Jesup Road.

A reception is set for August 26 (6 to 7:30 p.m.). RSVP by calling 203-349-5141, or emailing westportbooksaleventures.org.

Rachel Hall, with her work.

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In 1995, a seaplane accident on Block Island killed Stacy Waldman Bass’ father.

Shattered, she wrote as a way to process her grief, while gathering pieces of his life through photographs.

Twenty-five years later, her mother died of pancreatic cancer. During her year-long battle, Bass created a living tribute of images and words, rallying support when her mother needed it most.

Out of those challenges came a memoir. “Lightkeeper: A Memoir Through the Lens of Love and Loss” keeps her parents’ legacy alive, through text and photography.

A book launch — with a reception and discussion — is set for September 16 (6:30 p.m., Westport Library. Click here for more information. 

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What makes this a “Westport … Naturally” photo?

(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)

The gull perched on top, as seen from the Sherwood Island State Park shore!

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And finally … happy National Clown Day!

(It’s no laughing matter: “06880” relies on the support of readers like you. If you enjoy our work, please make a tax-deductible contribution by clicking here. Thank you!)

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Posted in Downtown, Entertainment, Local business, Police, technology, Westport Country Playhouse

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Online Art Gallery #277

Posted on August 2, 2025 | 3 comments

11-year-old Frazer Benton may be the youngest contributor to our online art gallery ever.

But Frazer’s work illustrates exactly what this weekly feature strives to do.

No matter how young (or old) you are; what style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Please email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

Untitled (John Jannotta, age 18)

Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)

“The Pastime Club, Beside Overton’s” — watercolor (Kathleen Burke — Available for purchase; click here)

“Compo Beach at Low Tide” — acrylic Dutch pour painting (Eric Bosch)

Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

“Multiple Equitable Simple Designs Included for Broader Diversity” — pen and watercolor (Steve Stein)

“Cribari 2.0” (Frazer Benton, age 11)

Untitled (Beth Cody)

“You Scavenge the Carcass and I’ll Keep a Lookout for the Hyena and Jackals” (Mike Hibbard)

“Still Life of a Potato” (Evan Gary Stein)

“Light and Shadow” (Lawrence Weisman)

“Hudson” — pencil on paper (William Fellah)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

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Posted in Arts

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College Sports Revenue Sharing, Roster Caps: Game Changers For High School Athletes

Posted on August 2, 2025 | 2 comments

NCAA Division I football and basketball teams don’t often recruit Westport and Weston teenagers.

Lacrosse, soccer, golf, tennis, track, rowing — that’s a different story.

But whatever their sport, many local athletes may feel ripple effects from recent changes on the college sports scene.

“Revenue sharing” began on July 1. D-I schools can now pay players directly, up to a minimum of $20.5 million per college this year. Realistically, nearly all will go to football and men’s basketball athletes.

The change — the result of long years of litigation — also eliminates scholarship limits in Division I sports.

The Ivy League and Patriot League (Boston University, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh and others) have opted out. Those conferences have attracted many area student-athletes.

Yet the Ivies do not offer athletic scholarships, and the money offered by Patriot League schools is far less than the Power 4 (Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12). That’s where the first changes will be felt.

Then, they’ll cascade throughout college sports.

Richard Kent has been watching the soon-to-be seismic shift closely.

A Westport resident since 1992 whose day job is in litigation (specializing in fathers rights), his passion is college sports — particularly basketball.

As a side gig, he teaches sports law at Fairfield University, Manhattanville College and Rutgers University.

Richard Kent

Kent says that many of the sports that Westport teenagers play — lacrosse, soccer, tennis, golf, track, crew — could be eliminated by D-I schools.

They have finite resources. The millions of dollars they can now pay athletes — in fact, “must” pay them, to remain competitive — will come from other budget lines.

Non-revenue (or worse, money-losing) sports like those that many Westport youths enjoy (or endure, with the hopes of landing a college scholarship — or at least a foot in the admissions door) may soon be eliminated.

Roster caps are also part of the settlement. D-I colleges are now limited to squads of 15 for basketball, and 105 for football. There are limits in other sports too — 48 for men’s lacrosse and 38 for women’s lax, for example.

Though schools faced scholarship caps previously, there were no roster restrictions. The result was that sports could help an applicant get into a school (even if he or she did not have a scholarship). There were opportunities too to “walk on” without being recruited.

At the D-I level, roster caps will lessen the opportunities for applicants from towns like Westport to use sports as a springboard to college.

As a result, the Ivy and Patriot Leagues — which opted out of the settlement, and will not face roster caps — may see increased interest in their programs.

Opportunities for a Staples football player like Jake Thaw to walk on at a school like Michigan may become more limited.

Of course, D-I is not the only game in town.

As D-I athletic departments grapple with change, Division III schools — Wesleyan, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Union and many more, where athletic scholarships are prohibited and sports programs are less intense (though still very competitive) — may see a bump in interest.

They won’t start paying athletes, cutting programs or facing roster caps. Westport student-athletes who may have tried for a D-I spot may realize D-3 is a more realistic option.

So what’s the game plan for current Staples, Weston and Greens Farms Academy teenage athletes?

“Read everything you can about this,” Kent advises.

“If you’re a highly recruited athlete who will be paid a lot of money, get an NIL agent.

“In all cases, be very careful about any offers that are not in writing, and signed by both parties.”

And of course: Look closely at D-III.

Play ball!

(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. And when there’s a national story with a Westport angle, we cover it. If you enjoy stories like this, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Categories, Sports, Staples HS

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Pic Of The Day #3026

Posted on August 1, 2025 | 1 comment

Long Island Sound sunset, from Compo Beach (Photo/Andrew Colabella)

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Posted in Beach, Pic of the Day

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Post Road Closed At Maple Avenue

Posted on August 1, 2025 | 2 comments

Westport Police and Fire Departments are on the scene at 1550 Post Road East — in the area of ASF and Layla’s Falafel — after wires came down across the road.

Repairs are underway, but it’s uncertain how long it will be closed.

Drivers should seek alternate routes — including I-95, Greens Farms Road and Long Lots Road — to avoid the area.

(Photo/Chris Grimm)

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Posted in Transportation

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Friday Flashback #461

Posted on August 1, 2025 | 10 comments

Over the years, thousands of youngsters have learned safety, techniques and tactics at Longshore Sailing School.

Today it’s a thriving operation. LSS offers group and private lessons for children, teenagers and adults, along with sailboat, kayak and paddleboard rentals. You can book the handsome building for private events.

It’s come a long way. Back in the day — 1966, to be exact — this was the Longshore Sailing School:

(Photo courtesy of Christopher Maroc)

Do you have memories of the Longshore Sailing School — from 1966, 1996, 2016 or any other time? Click “Comments” below.

(Friday Flashback is one of “06880”‘s many regular features. If you enjoy this — or anything else on our website — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)

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Posted in Friday Flashback, Local business, Longshore

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Roundup: Home Energy Audit, Triple H, Cuban Prison …

Posted on August 1, 2025 | 2 comments

This summer, it’s your air conditioner.

Six months from now, it will be your heater.

Both cost big bucks.

Both could also cost a little — or a lot — less.

Sustainable Westport, in partnership with the town of Westport and People’s Action for Clean Energy, has just launched HeatSmart Westport.

The program helps residents in 3 ways:

  • Improve home energy efficiency by getting a Home Energy Solutions audit from a certified technician. The typical cost is $75. But for everyone who signs up by August 31, and schedules and appointment between now and October, it’s free.
  • Insulate your home. and make other improvements to its envelope.
  • Consider switching your heating and cooling source to an energy efficient heat pump.

A typical HES visit includes about $800 worth of services and materials, and can result in over $180 in annual energy savings,

Each resident receives a personalized report outlining recommended improvements, such as insulation upgrades or more efficient equipment, along with rebates.

The program is open to all Westport homeowners and renters. If youve had an HES audit before 2019, you can have another now.

Click here for more information, and to schedule a free home energy audit.

An energy analysis unearths plenty of information about heat loss.

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There was a local face in the White House yesterday, as President Trump announced the return of the Presidential Fitness Test to public schools.

Weston’s Paul Levesque — better known as professional wrestler Triple H — stood on one side of Trump. Vice President Vance was on the other.

The gathering included Secretuary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other famous athletes, including  golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Triple H — who once coached softball here — currently serves as WWE’s chief operating officer. He is married to Stephanie McMahon — a retired wrestler, WWE executive, and daughter of WWE co-founder Vince McMahon and his wife Linda, Trump’s Secretary of Education.

A news story last fall described Triple H’s opulent lifestyle, including a Weston “mansion,” luxury car collection, and Bombardier Global 5000 private jet. (Hat tip: David Loffredo)

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From 1972-75, Longtime Westport resident Ron Schooler spent time in a Cuban prison.

Next Friday (August 8, 1:30 p.m., Westport Senior Center), he and Jim Evans will share their personal stories of that ordeal.

The event is part of the Senior Center’s “This is Your Life” series, presented through the Legacy Project.

Ron and Jim were on a sailing trip, delivering a boat from Rhode Island to Jamaica. But boat damage and bad weathe led them into Cuba waters, where they were arrested as “enemies of the state.”

Fifty years later, they’ll offer their perspectives on survival in a Cuban prison, during a time of political and social transformation.

Ron Schooler and Jim Evans

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Speaking of the Senior Center: They just received a $1,000 grant from the Southwestern Connecticut Transit Equity Foundation.

The funds — part of the organization’s first-ever golf event — will help subsidize transportation for members. They’ll be able purchase trips on Wheels2U, which offers service Tuesdays through Thursdays (9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.), from anywhere in Westport to the Senior Center.

Wheels2U ride service. (Photo/Rick Jaffe)

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The Westport Democtratic Town Committee needs one Planning & Zoning Commission candidate, to fill its slate for the November election.

The application deadline is August 15. Interested registered Democrats should send a statement and bio or resume to mgordon906@gmail.com.

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We get more deer photos than any other type of “Westport … Naturally” submission.

There’s no room for most of them, unfortunately. (There’s also no room for any of them in our gardens, but that’s a different post.)

Here is one that made the cut:

Greens Farms wetlands (Photo/John Fanuko)

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And finally … on this date in 1981, MTV began broadcasting in the US. The very first video was:

(Video killed the radio star. With our readers’ help, “06880” will keep hyper-local journalism alive. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Environment, Local politics, Politics, Real estate, Transportation

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Westport Teachers Take Over Times Square

Posted on August 1, 2025 | 10 comments

Over the course of a career, one teacher can impact thousands of lives.

If a teacher is lucky, years later a few former students may thank him or her for that positive influence.

If that teacher is really lucky, one of those former students may work for McGraw Hill. And choose that teacher’s name for an enormous Times Square “thank you” billboard, where millions of people can see it.

Carson Einarsen is part of the team that conceived and executed the project. And thanks to him, several Staples High School educators are really, really lucky.

Carson Einarsen (foreground), and the McGraw Hill billboard …

To fill out some empty space, Carson — a 2012 SHS graduate — added the names of 6 Westport educators who played a role in getting him where he is today.

Where he is — after studying film and TV at Savannah College of Art & Design — is part of Glass & Marker, a creative video agency.

They specialize in companies going public, replacing tired old road shows with compelling videos.

For a newly public firm, the New York Stock Exchange offers space online, in the Wall Street building — and on 2 ginormous Times Square screens.

When McGraw Hill hired the firm, they wanted something more than just graphics and visuals on those screens.

Carson’s team had a brainstorm. McGraw Hill provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators. What if — instead of touting the company itself — they used that space to thank teachers?

And what better way to say “thanks” than by using actual, real names?

… and Carson’s close-up.

Top executives loved the idea. They asked everyone in the firm to submit 1 or 2 teachers to thank.

The result — besides being the most commented-on internal post in McGraw Hill’s history — was 874 names.

Carson and his colleagues designed the graphics, and organized the columns. When space became available at the end, he was ready with his own Westport list.

Carson chose:

  • Bill Derry, Greens Farms Elementary School library media coordinator
  • John Dodig, Staples High principal
  • Camille Eskell, Staples High art teacher
  • Anne Pfeiffer, Carson’s sister Mari’s Greens Farms Elementary teacher
  • Kerstin Warner Rao, Bedford Middle School workshop teacher
  • Christine Richardson, Staples High English teacher.

But wait! There’s more!

Andrew Fishman added a name. Maggie Gomez — hia Staples math teacher — is honored at Times Square too.

5 educators’ names are on the left column.

One of the billboards ran for half an hour last week.

The other runs once an hour. It debuted last week, and will rotate through over the next few week.

Both are on the north side of Times Square — near the bleachers — near 7th Avenue and 47th Street.

“Some companies going public celebrate a financial goal, or reaching a milestone,” Carson notes.

“McGraw Hill is an educational company. For them, celebrating others worked well. It distilled the core of what they do: making teachers’ lives better, so they can better serve students.”

At the same time, the billboards show the public that the company is about more than textbooks. They’ve moved into digital technology in education.

But the heart of education remains teachers.

Each of McGraw Hill’s hundreds of employees had at least one who made a difference. Even the CEO contributed a name.

But only Carson Einarsen included 6 of Westport’s best.

(Congratulations to all our teachers. But why limit this to Times Square? If an educator has impacted your life — in Westport or elsewhere — click “Comments” below. Let’s add many more to the list!)

(“06880” often highlights Westport education — and our graduates’ accomplishments. If you like stories like these, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Education, Staples HS

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