“06880” artists are seldom at a loss for ideas. But in case you need any: The first day of summer is Friday. The 4th of July follows soon. Get outside — and then send your work to us, to be admired by all.
No matter 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.
This feature is open to all. Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone can contribute.
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 sale; click here)
“Sally Sells Seashells at the Seashore” — digital painting created with Photoshop (Ken Runkel — Available for sale; click here)
“Joyce’s Wife Nora Barnacle” — Bloomsday is June 16 (Brian Whelan — Available for sale; click here)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for sale; click here)
“Flower Abstract” (Ron Henkin)
Untitled (Mary Treschitta — Available for sale; click here)
“The Fence” (Karen Weingarten)
Untitled (Maureen Estony)
Untitled (Joan Micele — Available for purchase; click here)
“Sneak Closer, Tickle the Lioness’ Tummy — And Stay for Lunch” (Mike Hibbard)
“Brendan Wins the Long Drive” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)
“6/14/64 — Still Strolling at Compo, and Always Holding Hands” (Steve Stein)
Untitled (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
They can be enormous. They look menacing. And they’re home to hundreds of stinging insects.
Wasp nest, by Maureen Estony’s home.
Walking in the woods near her home in Woodstock, Connecticut, Maureen Estony spotted a gigantic nest. She was fascinated.
The first frost had come, so the wasps had abandoned it permanently.
Maureen cut it down, then sliced it in half. “It was beautiful,” the 1981 Staples High School graduate recalls.
“It was like an ant farm. I could see all the different levels, where the wasps operated.”
One of Maureen Estony’s wasp nests.
The paper the nest was made of — created by wasps gathering wood fibers, chewing them, and mixing them with saliva — looked beautiful too, with a range of colors and textures.
Maureen — who operated a jam and specialty food company — played around with the wasp paper.
She made a bowl, then put it aside.
Maureen Estony
Five years ago, Maureen moved back to this area. She’d gone to Westport schools. She’d been a cheerleader and swimmer, and taught swimming at Longshore to put herself through the University of Connecticut.
She’d been a literature major. She did not consider herself an artist. She’d had some tough times — in 1985, she fell out of a barn onto pavement, and broke many bones — but living on 2 wooded acres upstate, and running her business, was fulfilling.
Back in this area, botched tendon surgery led to 3 years of near incapacitation.
Maureen had collected a number of wasp nests. She remained fascinated by the organization of the hives, and the paper that protected it.
She made more bowls. Then, using scrap metal from the Stamford dump, her art became more elaborate.
Maureen never showed it to anyone. But when her mother and friend Patty Kondub both told her that the Senior Center often displayed artwork, she brought her bowls to director Wendy Petty.
A collection of wasp nest bowls.
Last month, Maureen mounted her first show ever. It was the first time her wasp nest bowls had left her apartment.
The reaction was “better than I could have hoped for. I teared up.”
She sold a piece her first day. Near the end of the exhibit, she gave a talk to Senior Center attendees.
Wasp nest bowl: the view from above.
Her first tentative steps into the local arts community gave her courage. She called Miggs Burroughs — another native Westporter, and co-founder of the Arts Collective of Westport — who was generous with time, insights and advice.
“Westport is such an arts town,” Maureen says. “There’s original work everywhere — schools, Town Hall, the library. It’s magical.”
She’s expanded now, using hosta leaves and creating micro vases with another beautiful bit of nature: calla lilies. “They’re so curvaceous and elegant,” Maureen says.
Calla lily mini vase.
Maureen Estony still sounds surprised to call herself an artist.
“Saying those words out loud was as profound as it was natural,” she notes. “‘I’m an artist!’ I’m claiming something I’ve never said before.”
(You can follow Maureen on Instagram: maureen_estony_art.)
(“06880” regularly spotlights the arts — and Staples High School graduates. If you enjoy coverage like this — or anything else we do — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
For 48 hours, the Staples High music department scrambled.
Moving the Westport Pops concert — a beloved Levitt Pavilion tradition — into the school’s auditorium, due to the threat of thunderstorms, was a mammoth task.
But they did it. Arranging a new sound system, re-staging the show, feeding the 200 musicians and many more attendees — all went flawlessly, thanks to the staff, many helpers, and the Staples Music Parents Association.
The result was another spectacular performance. Vocal groups large and small; the Symphonic Band and Orchestra; the Jazz Ensemble — all wowed the crowd.
In the end, there were no thunderstorms outside.
But indoors, Staples musicians captured lightning in a bottle.
Sara Stanley and Will McCrea warm up the crowd, with “My Green Light.”
Andrew Maskoff (keyboard) and Seamus Brannigan (drums) entertain before the show.
Ian Green solos on “Song For My Father.”
Cat Betit belts out “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
As pre-show acts play, and the orchestra takes their seats, the audience settles in …
… and the choral groups get ready.
Tony Award-winning actor Jim Naughton emcees …
… and his grandson, Owen Naughton, plays keyboard.
Kevin Mazzarella leads the Jazz Ensemble.
Multi-talented Andrew Maskoff wows the crowd with “Sway.”
Wreckapellas have fun with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Coldplay’s “VIva La Vida” gets the string treatment from Kendra Cheng, Luca Caniato and Zach Gillman.
Choralaires perform “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Eva Slossberg and Mia Zibly join the orchestra for “Skyfall.”
Music teachers who make it all happen: Lauren Pine, Jeri Brima, Carrie Mascaro, Kevin Mazzarella. Not pictured: Caitlin Serpliss, Mary Gardner. (All photos/Dan Woog)
(“06880” covers many outstanding events in Westport schools. If you enjoy our spotlights on a wide variety activities, please click here to support our work. Thank you!
Lots of interesting patterns and colors in this week’s online art gallery. (And every other week too!)
And as we do every week, we invite readers to submit art. No matter 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.
This feature is open to all. Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone can contribute.
Please email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Lovers Rendezvous” (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Legs” (Cohl Katz)
“Unrelated Objects, Collected” (Peter Barlow)
“Rose” (Ellen Wentworth)
Untitled — 21 x 21 oil impasto on aluminum (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Climbers” (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
Last night’s Board of Education meeting began with a toast to retiring teachers and other professionals. Administrators and Board members praised nearly 2 dozen men and women, for their decades of service.
Then came comments about a coach who will not return.
With several teammates standing in support, 3 Staples High School boys soccer players spoke passionately, powerfully and clearly — yet respectfully — about their confusion, anger and disappointment in the way the BOE, superintendent of schools and administrators handled the non-renewal of coach Russell Oost-Lievense’s contract.
Incoming captains Drew Hill and Dylan Shackelford, plus fellow junior Zach Gillman, called for their coach’s reinstatement.
They described sitting in last month’s 14-hour hearing, yet not having ever been interviewed as witnesses. They were surprised at the silence of BOE members — some of whom never asked one question during the long day — as well as with the application of the “arbitrary and capricious” threshold upon which the decision was supposed to be made.
The players also noted that they were speaking for “any coach or teacher” who could be targeted next by administrators.
Board member Robert Harrington then proposed an agenda item to reopen the case, based on witnesses who were not allowed, evidence withheld, and the “impartiality” of the BOE’s mediator at the hearing.
Like the students who spoke, Harrington pleaded for the superintendent and administrators to sit down with Oost-Lievense and try to find a resuloution.
There was no second for his motion.
Harrington’s second agenda request — to allow discussion of a “privileged” letter from the BOE’s attorney — also failed, without a second.
From left: Dylan Shackelford, Drew Hill, Zach Gillman. (Photos/Dan Woog)
The much-maligned concessionaire still has the Compo Beach and Longshore contracts (for one more year).
But they seem to have rebranded themselves as Bluestone
Their graphics (and offerings) look much the same as before. But if you’ve tried the new brand at either location, please click “Comments” to leave a review.
Bluestone at Compo Beach … (Photo/DinkinESH Fotografix)
… and Longshore. (Photo/Brandon Malin)
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The Longshore parking lot overflowed last night, with 2 of Westport’s most popular events.
CLASP Homes‘ annual “Taste of Westport” event highlighted many of the area’s most popular restaurants (and assorted other food purveyors).
It was a huge fundraiser for the non-profit that has done such good work, for so long, providing care, support and inspiration to men and women with autism and developmental disabilities.
Among those providing (much more than) a taste of Westport, to hundreds of hungry attendees: Anan, Artisan, Bar Bushido, Barcelona, Black Bear Wines & Spirits, The Blondinit, Boathouse, The Bridge at Saugatuck, Bridgewater, Chopin Vodka, Código 1530, Don Memo, Eder Bros., Freixenet Monetto, Grumpy Dumpling Co., Gabriele’s, Gruel Brittania, La Plage, Little pub, Magic Pie Co., Nômade, Moët & Chandon, Nordic Fish, Oggi Gelato, Blue Bistro, Rizzuto’s, Romanacci Pizza Bar, Saugatuck Oyster Company, Schloss Johannisberg, Tarantino, The Whelk, Woodford Reserve and Zucca Gastrobar.
Robin Tauck and Miggs Burroughs take in the scene …
… which included plenty of serving stations, and a few hundred folks enjoying them.
Meanwhile, a few steps away on the La Plage patio, another couple of hundred folks socialized, networked and noshed at Startup Westport‘s monthly get-together.
In just 2 years, the public/private partnership for tech and entrepreneurship has established itself as a force for creativity, innovation and economic activity.
Plus, everyone involved knows how to have fun.
Dan Bikel, Tucker Peters and Jay Norris share startup tips …
… and the networking continues. (All photos/Dan Woog)
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Club203 — Westport’s social group for adults with disabilities — closes out another very successful year, with a big beach jam.
The June 10 event (6:30 to 8 p.m., Compo Beach Ned Dimes Marina) includes the Super Duper Weenie Truck, art by MoCA, and “music and movement” led by Susan Wright from Digital Zen Studios.
VFW Post 399 reaches out to veterans in many ways.
Next up: a Veterans Benefits Luncheon on June 12 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
It’s free, and open to all veterans as part of an ongoing effort to check in on all veterans’ welfare, and connect them with the benefits and support they earned.
Representatives will answer questions, and provide information on services and assistance available to veterans.
RSVPs are encouraged (but not required). Email vfw399ct@gmail.com, and include the number of attendees, or call (203) 227-6796.
PS: If you’re not a veteran, but know one: Please pass the word!
All veterans are invited to the VFW’s free June 12 luncheon.
The senior lacrosse player set a school record for career points on Wednesday, when Staples High dismantled Norwich Free Academy 23-0 in the state LL tournament round of 16.
Udell — a University of Michigan commit — now has 230 points (goals and assists). That’s one more than the previous record holder, Michael Reale, who graduated in 2016.
Udell — who also holds the school records for goals and assists in a season — has a chance to add to that total tomorrow. The #3 Wreckers host #6 Greenwich (1 p.m., Paul Lane Field) in the state quarterfinals. The Cardinals beat Staples earlier in the year.
Seen yesterday at the Westport Farmers’ Market: free seeds and seedlings …
… and fresh strawberries:
The Farmers’ Market is open every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Imperial Avenue parking lot.
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The Westport Rotary Club’s annual Community Service and Public Protection Awards lunch on Tuesday featured awards to 11 local activists and volunteers, plus Public Protection awards to Westport Police, Westport EMS, and Westport Fire Department personnel.
Honorees included Harold Bailey, Jr. and Bernicestine McLeod Bailey of TEAM Westport, Compo Playground Committee co-chairs Bridget Flynn and Samantha Owades, and site manager R.B. Benson.
First responders honored by the Westport Rotary Club …
… along with (from left) Harold and Bernicestine McLeod Bailey, with Rotary Club officials Eileen Lavigne Flug and Jim Marpe …
… and Samantha Owades, Rotary’s Alex Cohen, Bridget Flynn RB Benson. (Photos/Adriana Bleloch-DeLucia)
A brief illness kept the longtime Westport resident from her usual visits to the Senior Center and Compo Beach. But she’s doing better, and hopes to return soon.
Fran still lives off Clinton Avenue — her home for the past 70 years.
And she’s got email (which certainly did not exist when she moved in, during the Eisenhower administration). “06880” readers can wish Fran a happy 103rd birthday at franmande@gmail.com.
Happy birthday, Fran Mande!
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Little Beet — the “vegetarian-friendly” restaurant a few doors up from Fresh Market — closed on April 24.
Perhaps the reason we’ve just heard about it is related to the reason they’re no longer here.
Eight locations in New York and Westchester, and 2 others in New Jersey and Washington, remain open.
As counselors-in-training at Camp Echo Lake nearly 40 years ago, Eric Falkenstein and Ben Frimmer acted in a color war-style drama contest.
This Sunday, they’ll be together at another competition: the Tony Awards.
Both local residents now, they’ve reignited their teenage friendship.
Falkenstein is a producer, and Frimmer a co-producer, of “John Proctor is the Villain” — the smash (and very timely) Broadway play that reimagines “The Crucible” — they’re up for a Tony for “Best New Play.”
If it wins, this will be the 9th award for Falkenstein. Since 2003, his company — Spark Productions — has produced social impact and issue-driven plays, movies and television shows.
It would be the first Tony though for Frimmer, a 1988 Staples High School graduate, and noted longtime Coleytown Middle School theater teacher and director.
Ben Frimmer, directing at Coleytown Middle School. (Photo/January Stuart)
It would be the first too for another co-producer: Ari Benmosche. A commercial real estate investor by day, he also serves on Westport’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) — and, like Falkenstein and Frimmer, backs projects that speak to his passion for social justice.
Falkenstein’s path to “John Proctor” began after Yale Law School. His practice combined entertainment and human rights cases.
He then worked for Woody Allen’s production firm. In 2003 he founded his own company.
Eric Falkenstein
Falkenstein and his wife Amy moved here in 2009. They were drawn by the “country” vibe, commuting distance to New York, and friends here in town. Reconnecting with Frimmer was an added bonus.
Falkenstein’s producing credits were already impressive. He’d been involved in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” with Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy; “All My Sons,” “Frankie and Johnny” and “History Boys,” among others.
Of course, he notes, “I’ve had my share of losers.” Among them: “All Shook Up,” the Elvis Presley show savaged by the New York Times’ Ben Brantley (he was tired of jukebox musicals).
Producing a Broadway show is not for the faint of heart. But, Falkenstein says, when 4 elements come together — critical acclaim, financial success, artistic sensibility and audience excitement — the experience is worth it.
“It’s so rewarding to see an idea that was just a kernel months earlier grow into something that delights or inspires 1,500 people a night. And to hear someone say ‘it changed my life’ is amazing,” the producer says.
A show that epitomizes the power of theater is “The Miracle Worker.” One performance of the 2010 revival stands out. The audience was filled with blind children (who listened to stage directions via earpieces), and hearing impaired youngsters (who viewed the dialogue on small screens).
“They were smiling, crying and signing to each other in ecstasy,” Falkenstein recalls. “For me, it was an absolute frisson of delight.”
Eric Falkenstein at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Congressman John Lewis (left) was helpful for years in research for a sweeping epic play about Martin Lutheer King, now in progress.
In 2001, Falkenstein worked with Arthur Miller on a “Crucible” revival. When Falkenstein heard about early stagings of “John Proctor” — a revisionist take on the play about the Salem witch trials, centering on modern-day high school students and their interpretation of those historical events — he joined an inner circle of producers, hoping to bring it to Broadway.
“It was very much of the moment, and unusually electric,” he says.
Raising funds was not easy. It seldom is. But he brought Frimmer, Benmosche and others on board.
The rewards are worth it. “John Proctor” is drawing young, non-regular theatergoers; they’re talking about it with their parents and other adults.
“John Proctor is the Villain,” on the Broadway stage.
The 3 Westporters will be at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, for the 78th annual Tonys. They’ve received pins and certificates, as co-producers of the “Best New Play” nominee. If they win, they get statues.
It won’t be easy.
“There are some excellent and outstanding plays this season,” Falkenstein says. The competition includes “English,” “The Hills of California,” “Oh, Mary!” and “Purpose.”
In years past, every time Falkenstein has gone to the ceremony as a nominee, he’s won. When he’s had to skip the event, he’s lost.
This year, he says, that streak has “a solid chance of ending.”
Win or lose, he is excited to have brought an important piece of theater to Broadway audiences, who have been educated, inspired and provoked by it.
The official Tony nomination.
Meanwhile, Falkenstein is involved in several new projects. As with this, he’s tapping local talent.
“Satisfied” is a film about Renée Elise Goldsberry, the “Hamilton” star (and Weston resident) who grappled simultaneously with fertility issues and her growing career.
Westporters Kelli O’Hara, Wendy Morgan-Hunter and Katy Bolan joined Falkenstein as executive producers. Chris Bolan directed it.
Up next: a film about the Potsdam Conference (with Bryan Cranston), and the first Broadway revival in 40 years of “Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.” The New York Times ranked it with great mid-20th century plays like “Death of a Salesman” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Will it too go on to a Tony nomination?
“I’m not always lucky,” Falkenstein says. “I’ve had plenty of heartache.”
That’s the life of a Broadway producer.
But so too are important, impactful successes like “John Proctor is the Villain.”
Just ask Ben Frimmer, Ari Benmosche, or anyone else who has produced — or seen — the Tony-nominated show.
(The 2025 Tony Awards, hosted by Cynthia Erivo, will be broadcast live on Sunday, June 8, at 8 p.m. on CBS, and streamed on Paramount+. Erivo won a Tony for “The Color Purple” — another play which Falkenstein co-produced.)
(“06880” is where Westport meets the world — and, often, Broadway. If you enjoy our arts and entertainment coverage, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
She’s been nominated for 8 Tony Awards, and won “Best Actress in a Musical,” for “The King and I.”
She’s starred on Broadway in “The Light in the Piazza,” “Pajama Game,” “South Pacific,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Kiss Me, Kate” and “Days of Wine and Roses.” She’s also been featured in a number of operas.
We are proud to call Kelli our neighbor.
The other day, she joined me on the Westport Library stage, for “06880: The Podcast.”
We chatted about her route from Oklahoma to Broadway, and then to Westport; her musical career; her family (including husband Greg Naughton, a musician; father-in-law actor Jim Naughton, and her 2 very talented kids); our arts community (incuding her relationships with the Westport Country Playhouse and Staples Players), and (of course) her favorite local hangouts.
Posted onJune 1, 2025|Comments Off on Roundup: StartUp Pitch Competition, Fulbright Scholar, Westport Community Theatre …
Less than 2 weeks remain to enter StartUp Westport’s first-ever Pitch Competition.
The event — for innovators and entrepreneurs, not baseball players or musicians — offers early-stage startups a chance to win a non-dilutive, 5-figure cash prize
It’s also a great way to plug into our town’s vibrant network of mentors, business leaders and passionate supporters.
Eligibility is simple: pre-institutional funding, a scalable business model, and a founder with Connecticut roots or strong state ties.
In September, 4 finalists will be chosen to pitch “live shark tank-style” (though with more encouragement and, perhaps, less drama).
Winners will be announced November 20, at the Westport Library.
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Congratulations to Wes DeOreo!
The 2021 Staples High School graduate (and former lacrosse player) has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for 2025-26.
The program offers 400 positions in over 135 countries. Awardees teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects.
DeOreo — who just graduated from Bates College with a double major in politics and German — will teach in Germany.
At Bates he served as an AESOP leader, rugby club president, athletics student assistant, and fitness attendant.
He is no stranger to Germany. DeOreo has studied transatlantic history at the University of Freiburg; and taught English and coached club lacrosse in Freiburg.
He looks forward to joinng community sports teams, and reconnect with German friends and family. After his Fulbright, DeOreo will pursue a career in public service. (Hat tip: Linda Smith)
Wes DeOreo (Photo/Phyllis Graber Jensen for Bates College)
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The curtain rises Friday on the Westport Community Theatre’s new show, “The Gods of Comedy.”
The show — about a young classics professor who calls on Greek gods for help after a priceless manuscript goes missing — is full of “chaos, confusion, and divine mischief.”
The cast includes Jacqueline Carlsen, Henry Durham, Bob Filipowitch, Carin Freidag, Martha Hegley, Paula Lacy, Marcy Sansolo, David Victor and Virgil Watson.
“The Gods of Comedy” plays weekends through June 22, in the lower level of Town Hall. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. on Sundays. There is one Thursday show: June 12, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.
Speaking of Library music: Dan Bikel filled the bill last night.
By day a computer scientist and AI leader at Meta, he’s also a very talented singer, songwriter and composer. (With great genes: He’s the son of Theodore Bikel, the folk singer who played Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” over 2,000 times._
Dan entertained the Trefz Forum crowd with original songs on piano and guitar. He also performed the second movement of his Piano Concerto No. 1, showing his classical side.
Jim Naughton has shared his enormous acting talent, and the celebrity that comes with it, to advocate — and raise millions of dollars — for many excellent causes.
He has been active in areas ranging from animal welfare to the death with dignity movement. in Fairfield County and beyond.
He has been a special friend of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, including hosting every ACE Awards ceremony.
This year, the tables are turned. The longtime Weston resident (and Tony Award winner) will be honored with the Citizen Impact Award, for his contributions to arts and culture here.
Speaking of the Westport Pops Concert: It’s this Friday (June 6, 7 p.m., Levitt Pavilion).
If you’ve been before, you know it’s a kick-off-the-summer highlight, featuring a couple of hundred talented teenage musician, under the stars. Free tickets are available here.
But note: If you’ve been before, you may have had dinner from food trucks in the Library parking lot.
There are no food trucks this year. So eat before you go — or better yet, bring a picnic. The lawn opens at 6 p.m.
Speaking of theater: Sure, the Westport Country Playhouse’s gala — celebrating 95 years of history and entertainment — is more than 4 months away.
But save the date: October 4.
And get ready to celebrate the evening’s honoree: Anne Keefe.
A cornerstone of the WCP since 1973, she has been involved in nearly every facet of the famed stage.
Key achievements include a pivotal role in the 1999 campaign to renovate and preserve the Playhouse, and her leadership as associate artistic director and co-artistic director (alongside Joanne Woodward).
For over 35 years. she’s supported the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Gala. She has been honored with an award for lifetime achievement in stage management, selection to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame’s 10 Women of Distinction, the Westport Arts Award for Theatre, and the Connecticut Critics Circle’s Tom Killan Award.
Keefe has taught at the Yale School of Drama, and served on the boards of the Playhouse and Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County.
Tickets and more information will be available soon.
Anne Keefe
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Sure, the bar is high for entitled parking.
But this shot — from yesterday’s dance recital at Bedford Middle School — clears that bar.
Note the arrogance of simply parking in the middle of the lot, forcing drivers in 2 directions to creep around.
Stopping right across the white line is a bonus.
The coup de grâce, of course, is that the driver is facing the wrong way. Impressive!
Posted onMay 31, 2025|Comments Off on Online Art Gallery #268
If you missed last week’s Fine Arts Festival — no problem!
As always, kick off your Saturday with “06880”‘s online gallery.
And as always, we invite readers to submit art. No matter 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.
This feature is open to all. Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone can contribute.
Please email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Blooming” (Karen Weingarten)
“Quiet Spring” (Rowene Weems — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Bulldog” (Mary Treschitta — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Karen Schlansky — Available for purchase; click here)
“Smooch” (Ken Runkel — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Joan Micale — Available for purchase; click here)
“Spotty Rain” (Jerry Kuyper)
“Just Planted and Too Close Together” (Peter Barlow)
“Very Bad Boy!” (Mike Hibbard)
“The Kissing Chalice from a Palace” — ink and watercolor (Steve Stein)
“Tickled” (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
The Staples High School senior received the school’s highest honor — the Staples Key — at Wednesday’s awards ceremony.
Alexis — a Learning Center and middle school tutor; LinkCrew member for freshmen; member of the National, Science, Math and Chinese Honor Socieites; organizer of the Staples Tuition Grants Fun Run; ski team captain and soccer player — also took first place in the state STEM fair for her cancer research.
Alexis will study chemistry and math at Northwestern University.
The other 2 finalists for the Staples Key were Abe Lobsenz and Sam Rossoni.
Over 90 awards were given out. Among the other big ones:
Lily Rimm won the James Bacharach Award Service to the Community Award. It’s been presented for over 35 years by the Westport Youth Commission, in honoro of the founder and president of the Youth Adult Council, and a founder of what is now Homes with Hope.
Principal’s Awards for Outstanding Service went to William Boberski, Nina Bowens, Luca Caniato, Mia Ferrigno, Derek Hafiz, Christina Kavanah, Kensley Laguerre, Annam Olasawere, Molly Oliver, Andrew Rebello, Madeleine Saounatsos, Zelie Saounatsos, Danielle Schwartz and Jackson Tracey.
Staples Awards for Character were given to Kody Goldman and Kylie Kirkham (Class of 2025), Taylor Serotta and Eva Slossberg (Class of ’26), Nicolas Reyna and Vanii Punia (Class of ’27), and Kai Massicott and Azita Vazhayil (Class of ’28).
Alexis Krenzer
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More awards!
On Thursday, the Westport Police Benevolent Association Scholarship Foundation handed grants of $2,500 each to 17 students.
The Scholarship Foundation was founded and principally funded by Dr. Joan Poster and her late husband, Dennis Poster.
From left: Joseph Sabin, Reese Aliberti, Jaden Aliberti, Meghan Velky, Sgt. Sharon Russo, Sara Sabin, Samantha Sabin, Gabrielle Hayes, Lily Rimm. Not pictured: Zachary Benson, Grace Biagiotti, Olivia Biagiotti, Jacqueline Kelley, April Nowinski, Edward Nowinski, Brandon Smith, Connor Woods, Ava Wooldridge. (Photo: Harry Rimm)
The dream of Staples Players actors is to be on Broadway.
Jamie Mann is.
Just a few days after graduating from the University of Michigan, the 2021 Staples High School alum has a featured role — and some very funny moments — in the new hit “Stranger Things.”
The other day, 26 current Players (and aspiring Great White Way stars) headed to New York. Jamie, they and directors David Roth and Kerry Long had dinner before the show.
After the curtain, Jamie posed for photos and autographs.
Jamie Mann (front row, 2nd from left) with Staples Players. (Photo/Kerry Long)
The dedades-old tradition returns next 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.). The site is (of course) the Westport Woman’s Club (44 Imperial Avenue)
As always, there are carnival rides, games, food trucks and baked goods, raffles — you name it. Sand art is back too.
The “Take a Chance” tent makes a comeback, with prizes donated by local merchants and restaurants. Winners do not have to be present at the drawings.
A pay-one-price, unlimited ride wristband option is available.
Proceeds help benefit a variety of local charities, provide scholarships to Staples students, and support the Woman’s Club’s 50-year-old food closet.
This year, the organization awarded $124,200 in grants and scholarships.
Yankee Doodle comes to town!
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“Egrets” — the new 7 1/2-foot stainless steel sculpture by Redding artist Babette Bloch — will be dedicated tomorrow (May 31, 4 p.m., Canal Park, Canal Street at Kings Highway North).
It’s the latest in a series of local outdoor art, courtesy of the Westport Arts Advisory Committee and our Parks & Recreation Department.
Westport poet laureate Donna Disch will speak, and refreshments will be served.
A Parks & Rec employee lays grass, so “Egrets” is in its element.
Former Westporter Rev. Dr. Peter Haile died May 16. He was 100.
He moved into The Saugatuck on Bridge Street when he was 80 to be closer to his daughter, Rebecca Swanson. He created, wrote and published a very popular newsletter for residents, “The Saugatalk.”
He was born at a school run by the London Missionary Society for the education of Black South Africans, where his father was principal for 40 years. The school, which refused to compromise its mission, was closed by the apartheid government in 1962. It reopened in 1995.
At 10, Peter was sent to live with an aunt in London, until the Blitz forced him, and many other children, to evacuate. At his new school he excelled in academics and competed in rugby, field hockey and cross country.
He spent 3 years in the Royal Navy. Discharged in South Africa, he was reunited with his parents for the first time in 12 years.
Peter earned his teaching certificate at Oxford, where he ran cross country with Roger Bannister. On a mission year in the US he met and married Jane Hollingsworth. They moved to Boston, where Peter ministered to college students.
In 1961 he began a 29-year stint at the Stony Brook School on Long Island, as an English teacher, chaplain and assistant headmaster. After retiring, he spent 10 years as assistant pastor at the Three Village Church in Setauket, New York.
Peter was was predeceased by his wife. He is survived by his son John (Susan), daughter Rebecca Swanson (David); grandchildren CMDR David Haile (Michelle), Andrew Haile (René), Sarah Haile, Dr. David Swanson III (Katharine), and Peter Swanson (Marissa);,and great-grandchildren Nora, James, Christopher, Brandon, Alethea and Naomi.
And finally … Rick Derringer, who hit Number 1 as a 17-year-old guitarist with “Hang On Sloopy,” had a smash several years later as a solo artist with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” then became a producer with artists ranging from Peter Frampton, Barbra Streisand and Kiss to Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper and Weird Al Yankovic — died Monday in Florida. He was 77.
(Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town. But you’re in Westport — or you’ve got some connection to it. If you enjoy this “06880” community, please click here to support our work. Thanks!)
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