Category Archives: Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge #250

Posted on October 13, 2019 | 18 comments

I’ve said it before: You guys are good.

I was sure last week’s Photo Challenge would be tough. Tim Woodruff’s image showed something dark, and rough textured. It could have been anything. (Water cascading over the old Embalmer’s Supply dam, someone suggested.)

But most of you knew — and quickly — that it was a close-up of one of the Compo Beach cannons.

It’s one of our town’s most beloved spots. Generations of Westporters have climbed and played on the cannons (and been photographed by other generations.)

Still, I’m impressed so many readers could identify them so easily. Kudos to Sharon Paulsen, Will Hamilton, Dan Herman, Andrew Colabella, Joyce Barnhart, Fran Taylor, Wendy Cusick, Mary Schmerker and Carla Fostet. (Click here for that very up-close look.)

So you like cannons? Here’s one!

If you know where in Westport you can find it, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Mark Mathias)

 

18 Comments

Posted in Beach, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #249

Posted on October 6, 2019 | 19 comments

I thought last week’s Photo Challenge might be too tough for any “06880” reader.

I did not reckon on Mary Papageorge and Lynn Untermeyer Miller.

Both knew that Amy Schneider’s image of a painted smiling face is located on the back side of the large star sculpture that Howard Munce created years ago. It sits on the bank of the Saugatuck River, in Parker Harding Plaza directly behind Rye Ridge Deli.

The fisherman — that’s what the face is — faces the river. It’s not easy to see — and not too many people actually stroll by there (though it is a nice, beautiful spot).

Mary no doubt knows it because the Papageorge family owned Oscar’s — the long-time, beloved predecessor to Rye Ridge.

Lynn knows it because — well, she sees and knows everything.

Can Mary, Lynn and/or you figure out this week’s Photo Challenge? If you think you know, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Tim Woodruff)

 

19 Comments

Posted in Arts, Downtown, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #248

Posted on September 29, 2019 | 6 comments

Fall is here. The Levitt Pavilion is dark.

But for dozens of nights this summer — like every other one — the Levitt lit up Westport with free concerts.

The lights above the stage were last week’s Photo Challenge (click here to see). A couple of readers guessed the Staples High School auditorium or Westport Library — but nearly everyone else nailed it. The Levitt Pavilion has tons of fans.

Congratulations to Matt Murray, Fred Rubin, Andrew O’Brien, Jack Backiel, Les Dinkin, Jay Tormey,. Seth Braunstein, Martin Gitlin, Rich Stein, Bobbie Herman, James Weisz, Seth Goltzer, Darcy Sledge, Jonathan McClure and Joelle Malec– you lit up the answers!

Amy Schneider snapped this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d find this, click “Comments” below.

And if you know who this guy is, we’d love to find out!

(Photo/Amy Schneider)

6 Comments

Posted in Entertainment, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #247

Posted on September 22, 2019 | 23 comments

We pass it a million times: the iron statue of a buck, on the Post Road.

But — because it’s a bit hidden by shrubbery — we don’t always notice it. (Click here for the photo.)

Some “06880” readers thought it was at Terrain. Seems like it should be there, with all the other plants and such.

But it’s not.

It’s at Mitchells — the upscale clothing store, diagonally across the street.

I have no idea why it’s there. But Mary Ann Batsell was first with the right answer.

If anyone knows the back story behind the Mitchells buck, click “Comments” below.

Click “Comments” too if you know where in Westport you’d find this week’s Photo Challenge.

(Photo/Dan Woog)

23 Comments

Posted in Categories, Local business, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #246

Posted on September 15, 2019 | 8 comments

There are a few places in Westport that nearly everyone goes to, at one time or other:

Compo Beach. Town Hall. And the transfer station (aka “the dump”).

So I’m surprised that only a few people recognized it, as Jo Shields’ Photo Challenge last week.

To be fair, her image did not really show the recycling facility. Instead, it was the sunflowers in front.

But when you’re there on a Saturday morning, i-n-c-h-i-n-g along, you get a good look at them. (Click here for the photo.)

Bob Grant, John Kantor, Krystof Bondar, Carol Hanks and Jonathan McClure correctly identified the site. Can they repeat this week?

If you know where in Westport you would see this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Mark Jacobs)

8 Comments

Posted in Environment, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #245

Posted on September 8, 2019 | 15 comments

The goal of every Sunday Photo Challenge is the same: provide a shot of a somewhat familiar Westport scene. Readers should think a bit. Responses should cover a range: many wrong ones, at least one right one. Ideally, the image should tantalize; the correct answer should elicit a smile, perhaps even a “wow.”

Most Photo Challenges are too easy — or too hard.

Last week’s hit the sweet spot.

Larry Untermeyer’s photo showed a wooden fence, surrounded by a bit of grass. (Click here to see.)

Guesses ranged — literally — all over town: Nyala Farm. Fairfield County Hunt Club. Staples High School. Kowalsky farm. Sherwood Island. Assumption Cemetery. Winslow Park. The Hilla von Rebay Arboretum. Wakeman Town Farm. A farm on Bayberry. Sasco Creek. Earthplace.

Wrong, wrong, wrong — all wrong.

The right answer came — finally — from Susan Lloyd.

The fence can be found — improbably — at Compo Beach.

That’s right: It sits in the parking area between the Ned Dimes Marina and the South Beach kayak launch.

That sound (all over town) is readers smacking their heads, saying, “Of course!”

And the next time you’re at the beach, you’ll look a little closer at that oddly sited — but very photographic — fence.

Now it’s on to this week’s Photo Challenge. Recognize it? If so, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Jo Shields)

15 Comments

Posted in Beach, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #244

Posted on September 1, 2019 | 24 comments

Whenever I post a photo of a bucolic, water-rippling-over-boulders, looks-like-Vermont-but-it’s-actually-Westport shot, the default response is: the Saugatuck, River, at Ford Road.

Sure, that’s one of Westport’s most beautiful, underrated spots.

But it’s not the only one.

Last week’s Photo Challenge showed a scene that readers thought was Ford Road. (Click here to see.) In fact, it was Newman Poses Preserve. The river is the Aspetuck.

Leigh Gage was first with the correct answer. Seth Schachter, Jonathan McClure and Alice Ely followed soon.

This hidden gem — located off Bayberry Lane and Easton Road — is the only public memorial approved by the family of the late Paul Newman as a way to honor the actor/philanthropist/race car driver/popcorn and salad dressing king. He lived nearby, and donated much of the land for the preserve.

The parcel also includes land sold to the town by Lillian Poses, a neighbor and friend of the Newmans. She worked on the New Deal in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, and was one of the first female graduates of NYU Law School.

Newman Poses Preserve is managed by the Aspetuck Land Trust. For more information, click here.

This week’s Photo Challenge is also wonderfully scenic. If you know where in Westport you’d see this — and everyone here has — click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Larry Untermeyer)

24 Comments

Posted in Entertainment, Environment, People, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #243

Posted on August 25, 2019 | 11 comments

Readers often stump me with Photo Challenge submissions. They send images of places I can’t quite recognize, have not noticed before, or never seen.

But I never thought I’d be stumped by a picture of  Compo Beach.

Until I saw Matt Murray’s shot. His Photo Challenge last week showed an old-fashioned bottle opener — with a box underneath, presumably for the tops — mounted on what looked like wood. (Click here for the photo.)

Matt said it was on a utility pole at Compo Beach, on the Soundview exit road at Fairfield Avenue. I took his word for it.

I’m not the only one who noticed it — though not many have. Kathe Damman, Dan Aron (who lives on Soundview, and walks by it every day) and Michele Whybrow quickly checked in with the right answer.

So now, readers — including myself — want to know:

  • Who put this bottle opener at Compo?
  • Why? Was it a joke, a luxury — or a necessity?
  • And when? Glass bottles have long been banned from that part of the beach.

If you can shed any light on this Great Bottle Opener Mystery, click “Comments” below. And do the same if you know where in Westport you’d find this week’s Photo Challenge:

(Photo/Bill Dedman)

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Posted in Beach, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #242

Posted on August 18, 2019 | 11 comments

I could say the heat got to me. But it wasn’t that hot last Sunday.

When Beth DeVoll sent an image for consideration as a photo challenge — it showed weather-beaten wood, a bit of brick, and the number “1” — I thought “aha!”

I’d already used the weather vane on that roof as an early Photo Challenge. This was a nice view of another part of the building.

In fact — as Elaine Marino pointed out seconds after I posted it — I’d already used a very similar photo, a couple of years earlier. She’d guessed the location that time too. (Click here for the shot.)

To be technical though, this time Elaine called it the Westport Housing Authority office. That’s actually #5 Canal Street. Morley Boyd said was the Aquarion pumping station. That’s #15.

James Weisz not only got the location, he identified it correctly as the Westport Public Schools’ facilities department office. Kathie Motes Bennewitz knew that too — though she inexplicably called it “2 Canal Street.”

Also correct, with the address of 1 Canal Street: Kati Krizsan.

This week’s Photo Challenge is a bottle opener. (Kids — ask your parents!) I’ve lived in Westport my whole life, and never noticed this. But it’s in a very public place, which photographer Matt Murray pointed out to me.

If you know where you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Matt Murray)

11 Comments

Posted in Education, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #241

Posted on August 11, 2019 | 19 comments

Westport sure has a lot of bridges.

Last week’s Photo Challenge showed the underside of one. Every “06880” reader figured that out.

But where was it? The William F. Cribari Bridge in Saugatuck? I-95, nearby? The new one on Saugatuck Shores? The old one on Kings Highway North, near Fort Apache?

Nope. No. Nah. No sir.

The image showed the view from underneath the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Memorial Bridge — aka the Post Road bridge over the Saugatuck River. (Click here for the photo.)

It gets tons of vehicle traffic every day, and a decent number of pedestrians. It’s rarer for someone to paddle underneath it. But Maggie Gomez did just that, and sent the shot to “06880.”

As Dan Herman notes, the fiberglass pipes shown are electric and telephone conduits.

Besides Dan, other correct answers came from Rob Hauck, Robert Mitchell, Seth Schachter, Jay Tormey, Seth Braunstein, Jonathan McClure, Fred Rubin, Andrew Colabella, Robert Fatherley, Breno Donatti, Jalna Jaeger and Michael Brennecke.

Maybe there are more paddlers than we realize!

This week’s Photo Challenge is back on dry — very dry — land. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Beth DeVoll)

 

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Posted in Downtown, Photo Challenge

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