The clusterf***edness of the layout — the convergence of the entrance and exit (merging with traffic from Compo Acres shopping center); the narrow lanes; the shoppers walking through — is legendary.
The back of the lot is much calmer (though the exit that way, onto Compo Road South, is no prize).
Savvy customers know to park there — away from the chaos — and walk a few extra yards. You can leave via the Wells Fargo exit, then make a U-turn through the Exxon gas station if you need to.
Meanwhile, back there, Compo Acres management have put up a couple of quasi-helpful “Additional Parking” signs. They point to “Route 1 East” and “Route 1 West” — names by which no one ever calls the Post Road. (Click here to see.)
Alfred Herman, Sal Liccione, Clark Thiemann, Seth Schachter, Dave Eason, Peggy O’Halloran, Andrew Colabella, Jonathan McClure and Martha Witte all know where those signs are. Congratulations — and stay safe!
Interestingly, our Trader Joe’s is not the only one with a teeth-gnashing parking lot. It seems to be a chain-wide thing.
In fact, the company’s lots are so notoriously bad, Food & Wine wrote an entire story about it. Click here to read.
We head back indoors for this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Susan Garment)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Public language is coarser. Dress codes for Broadway shows are looser.
And dogs are having their day.
We see them everywhere: Stores. Supermarkets. Even restaurants.
(And no — they are not all service animals.)
Most are on the small side.
Some are not.
This was the scene yesterday, at Barnes & Noble:
Let’s crowd source this.
What’s the appropriate etiquette for dogs in public indoor spaces? Does it vary by size, or type of establishment? Why do owners want to bring their dogs everywhere? Why would others object? And who should make the call?
Click “Comments” below. Please use your full, real name — and let us know whether you own a dog, or not.
===============================================
Speaking of dogs: Cat Malkin writes, “Yogi Bear enjoyed seeing Santa and eating delicious treats at Earth Animal yesterday. He (Yogi) supported supported their holiday wreath sale — with 100% of the proceeds going to CT Foodshare.
“Yogi wants all pet-loving Westporters know they can bring pet food — and old towels and blankets — to Earth Animal. They’ll make sure it goes to pets in need.
“You can also bring dog and cat food to the Homes with Hope food pantry (Gillespie Center on Jesup Road, behind Barnes & Noble) and the Connecticut Humane Society (now at 863 Danbury Road, Wilton).
“Yogi says, ‘Woof, woof, woof. Happy Holidays to all!'”
Yogi and Santa. (Photo/Cat Malkin)
===============================================
Speaking of Santa: The transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas occurs smoothly.
And everywhere.
This was the scene yesterday, at Compo Beach:
(Photo/Regi Kendig)
================================================
Last month marked the 5th anniversary of Wheels2U service.
From its beginning in 2020 during the early months of the COVID pandemic — serving a handful of riders in a portion of Westport — it has grown to cover the entire town, providing a record 3,069 rides in October alone.
Wheels2U is projected to book over 31,000 rides in the fiscal year ending June 30.
Commuters to and from Westport, seniors and families across Westport rely on it every weekday.
For just $2, the service offers curb-to-curb and curb-to-platform transportation to destinations including the Saugatuck and Greens Farms train stations, Senior Center, Jesup Green and Imperial Avenue Farmers’ Market.
Key features include:
Seamless technology: An app-based booking system allows riders to schedule trips and track vehicles in real time.
Sustainability impact: Transitioned in November to more comfortable and fuel-efficient vehicles, saving an estimated 4,100 gallons of fuel and reducing 80,000 pouds of CO₂ emissions annually (equivalent to the yearly energy use of 5 homes). A switch to electric vehicles this spring will further reduce emissions
Expanded service hours: Extended morning service to and from the 2 train stations to 10:30 a.m., and evening service to 9:30 pm. Added service Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to downtown locations.
Exceptional rider satisfaction: Maintains a 4.9/5 average ride rating, with 95% of all reviews at 5 stars. The average wait time for a pickup is under 12 minutes.
And finally … you may have guessed this was coming:
(Yogi Bear says, “You don’t need to be smarter than the average bear to help ‘06880.’ You just need to click here, to support the hyper-local blog that every person and dog loves. Arf!”
Posted onNovember 30, 2025|Comments Off on Warmth Of The Season: Neighbors Still Need Help
November began with terrifying news, for SNAP (food stamp) recipients in Westport and elsewhere.
The government shutdown meant the loss of benefits. How would they feed themselves, and their families?
As in communities across the country, residents rode to the rescue.
Homes with Hope, Rotary Clubs, Staples Service League of Boys, Scouts and other organizations swung into action. Donations of food and funds poured in. Pantries were filled; extra meals were served. No one went hungry.
Homes with Hope food pantry volunteers.
But food insecurity is not over.
“As we head into the holiday season, many Westport households are quietly struggling to put food on the table,” says Department of Human Services director Elaine Daignault.
“It’s a silent struggle — one marked by isolation and worry —that often goes unseen in a community like ours. We are extraordinarily grateful for the Westport residents and organizations who step up year after year to support families who might otherwise go without.”
Several households receiving assistance expressed deep appreciation for programs that allow them to participate in the holiday without fear of stigma.
One parent said, “I never imagined needing help, and it was so hard to ask. The fact that everything is handled privately made it possible for me to say yes. My kids had a real Thanksgiving because of this community.”
Another resident noted, “The support comes quietly and respectfully. It reminds me that I’m not alone—and that this town truly cares.”
Staples High School’s AWARE Club helps make Thanksgiving joyful for local families.
In the past year alone:
The Westport Woman’s Club provided $11,000 in grocery gift cards to 144 households for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hannukah, enabling families to purchase foods most meaningful to them.
The Club’s food closet also plays a vital role year-round. So far this month alone, it distributed over $2,500 in groceries and gift cards to Human Services beneficiaries.
The Westport Senior Center partnered with the Friends of the Senior Center, Westport Woman’s Club and Calise’s Food Market to ensure that homebound older adults and adults with disabilities receive special catered holiday meals.
Dozens of Senior Center volunteers help serve lunch, and warmly greet guests, every day.
Coleytown Middle School held its annual Giving Assembly. Students and staff contributed $1,695 in gift cards, plus 55 bags of Thanksgiving foods and breakfast staples.
Coleytown Elementary School and Stepping Stones Preschool created heartfelt Thanksgiving cards for Senior Center participants.
Temple Israel’s Early Childhood Center donated 70 pies, shared among Human Services, Homes with Hope and the Westport Housing Authority.
As “06880” reported earlier, the Westport Firefighters Charitable Fund donated 1,000 turkeys to Bridgeport residents; A&S Fine Foods prepared Thanksgiving meals for dozens more, while residents added pies to the meals; Homes with Hope oversaw efforts that provided Thanksgiving dinner to more than 2,500 local residents.
Gault donated 10 turkeys to local families.
“These acts of kindness mean that many Westporters — who may be overlooked or too hesitant to seek assistance — will feel seen, supported and included this holiday,” Daignault says.
Still, this is just the start of the winter.
Throughout the next months, Daignault says, her department will “remain focused on basic needs such as heating assistance, food resources, and the added pressures families face when school is out and children are home.”
Assistance with fuel costs is important for some local residents.
Up next: Westport’s Holiday Giving Program. It will support over 150 children from 90 families (and counting). The assistance helps parents provide a few meaningful gifts, and adequate food during the holidays and school break.
The final Club203 event of 2025 will be a festive one.
Westport’s social group for adults with disabilities celebrates the holidays at the Westport Woman’s Club (December 17, 6:30 p.m.).
Members — and parents and caregivers too — are invited. The night of giving, gratitude and great fun includes cookie decorating with MoCA\CT, and photos by the WWC Christmas tree. Click here to register.
For almost 50 years, Freda Welsh has been the executive director of the Levitt Pavilion concerts.
In 2011 she was joined by her daughter Carleigh Welsh, who produces the shows (and opens them, thanking the audience and sponsors).
On December 4 (2:45 p.m., Westport Senior Center) Rozanne Gates will speak with both.
The event — part of the Legacy Project USA’s “This is Your Life” series — will explore how the mother and daughter teamed up to bring world-class musicians to Westport every summer, for 50 free concerts and start-studded special events.
Registration is required. Call 203-341-5099.
Carleigh and Freda Welsh
==============================================
There are many spots to enjoy a fiery sunrise.
Today, “Westport … Naturally” features this view. Carl McNair captured it over the Staples High athletic fields, from Bedford Middle School.
And finally … on this date in 1777, San Jose, California was founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. It was the first civilian settlement (pueblo) in Alta California.
Two days after turkey day, our “06880” artists continue to give thanks.
Hey — it’s still the holiday weekend!
And “06880” is thankful for all of you: our wonderfully eclectic group of artists, and our passionate readers who enjoy this weekly feature, and support them.
A reminder: No matter your age; the 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, mixed media, 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 (Duane Cohen; Available for purchase;click here)
“Distorted Takeoff” (Patricia McMahon; Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled — Winslow Park (Dayle Brownstein)
“Litchfield Hills Hideaway” — signed acrylic on canvas, 16×16 (Gert; Available for purchase; Click here)
“The Cucurbits of Fall” — oil on canvas, 16 x 20 (Werner Liepolt; Available for purchase; click here)
“Memories of a More Colorful Time” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
“Red Fish, Blue Fish, Oyster With a Pearl” — acrylic on canvas (Eric Bosch)
Untitled (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)
“YellowSlide” (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
Photographer Mike Hibbard says: “I am thankful for the gifts of beauty that my colleagues have submitted to Dan Woog’s 06880 Art Gallery, and the audience who enjoy our art. Onward!”
“A Pomegranate from the Shrub/Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” — watercolor (Steve Stein)
“Tiger” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Portrait of a Thoroughbred” — watercolor and acrylic (Bill Fellah — Available for purchase; click here)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Evan Sameroff has had a successful career in private equity.
But after more than a dozen years — and since moving to Westport in 2022, and with 2 children, almost 3 and 1, just starting to grow up here — the Harvard MBA graduate is looking for other challenges.
His father and grandfather were small business owners.
Now Sameroff wants to be one too.
Evan Sameroff
This area is fertile, for one to buy. His goal is to find an established company, with 5 to 50 employees, annual profits of at least $750,000, and an owner who does not have a family member interested in taking over (or without a clear succession plan).
It would be a services business, with “good bones, a strong reputation, and low turnover.” He is not looking at a retail store or restaurant.
Sameroff will be a hands-on manager, taking the business he buys to the next level.
Private equity professionals work in short time frames, he notes. This new venture would allow him to “steward a legacy,” while keeping whatever made the company special intact.
His interest began several years ago. But Sameroff did not have the experience to management a team then, or handle supplies or manage a facility. Now, he feels comfortable doing so.
Westport is fertile territory for his quest. Sameroff has met many entrepreneurs here. A growing number of residents are, like he, ready to move on from finance to other pursuits. Others have already done so.
“People here want to help,” he says. “They have substantial business and investing experience, and a deep network across the region.”
Sameroff is in discussions with several prospects. He’s taking it slow, and is interested in hearing from “06880” readers who might know a business that would be a good fit. If interested, email evan@melodeeholdings.com.
I’ve had these illustrations set aside for years, because I am a water skier and I thought they were really cool.
Ed had told me they were of Stew Leonard and done a long time ago, but I didn’t see much info on the drawings.
Stew Leonard, by Ed Vebell
I recently ran into Stew Jr. I asked him if he wanted them, and brought them over.
Stew Sr.’s wife Marianne was overjoyed. She is putting them up in her house, along with his trophies.
Turns out Stew was a national champion trick skier in 1957. Ed, who had moved to Westport in 1953, had been commissioned to do illustrations of him for a 1956 Sports Illustrated story, “Water Fun.”
The connection between these 2 guys just came to light when Marianne called to thank us. We started to realize what a great story this is.
Stew was famous for his revolutionary marketing concepts (recognized by Harvard Business School) and a national champion water skier.
Ed was a famous illustrator (his Nuremberg Court drawings are in the Holocaust Museum) and an Olympic fencer (qualifying for the 1952, ‘56 and ‘60 Games).
Their paths crossed in 1957. But both families are just now getting all the details of their story together.
According to a 2018 Norwalk Hour story by George Albano, the 26-year-old “Norwalk milkman” won the North American Water Ski Championship in ’57 — after picking up the sport just a year earlier.
He learned through trial and error on Saugatuck Shores. He and his brothers Leo and Jim dug out what they called “Bermuda Lagoon,” and practiced.
Stew Leonard in action. (Photo courtesy of The Hour)
Leonard told Albano, “Those days you delivered milk to people’s houses. So I started work at 3 a.m., and was done by 11:30. That was the edge I had, that and I had the lagoon. I was able to practice till dark.”
At the national event, he competed against water skiers from Florida and California, who practiced all year. “We had July and August,” he said.
Leonard also invented and patented a “Skee-Trainer.” Attached to a tow rope, it was designed to teach people to water ski. He sold them through Sears & Roebuck.
The future supermarket mogul was a multi-sport athlete. He was a goalie on the Norwalk High School ice hockey team. They played at the old Crystal Rink on Crescent Street. (The ramshackle building — fondly called the “Crystal Ice Palace” — drew notables like Olympians Carol Heiss and Dorothy Hamill. It’s where Paul Newman practiced too, for his 1977 movie “Slap Shot.”)
Stew Sr. also pole vaulted for Norwalk High and the University of Connecticut. But water skiing was his favorite sport. He retired in 1961 after injuring his back while practicing tricks. He became a lifetime member of the American Water Ski Association.
In 1976, Stew Leonard was honored for his water ski achievements by the Sportsmen of Westport.
His other accomplishments — including turning his father’s milk business into what Ripley’s called “the world’s largest dairy store” (albeit one that sells lobsters, flowers, wine and cashmere) — are stories to be told another day.
(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!)
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)
GET THE “06880” APP
The “06880” app (search for it on the Apple or Android store) is the easiest way to get “06880.” Choose notifications: whenever a new post is published, or once or twice a day. Click here for details.
