Residents of Violet Lane thought their part of the Myrtle Avenue water main renovation project was finished a couple of weeks ago.
This morning, workers once again tore up the road — and drivers scrambled to get their cars out while they could.
(Photo/Joyce Joiner)
Neighbors are not the only ones without much notice about what’s happening. Many Westporters have asked that better signage be placed on the Post Road and Main Street.
Five years ago, I wrote about Belta’s Farm.
My story began:
Bayberry Lane is like many Westport streets. There’s a mix of homes: handsome converted barns; stately Colonials; 1950s split-levels; modern, multi-gabled McMansions.
Nothing — not a sign or a peek through the trees — indicates that the driveway at #128 leads to a 23–plus-acre farm.
It could be Westport’s best-kept secret: There’s a working farm a few yards from the intersection of Bayberry Lane and Cross Highway.
Four generations of Beltas — the farm’s founding family — live there. Dina is the widow of Jimmy Belta, who first farmed the land in 1946. Greg is her son. His children and grandchildren are there too.
How much longer, though, is uncertain.
An aerial view of Belta’s Farm from several years ago shows fields, greenhouses, a compost pile (near the top), and the family’s two homes (bottom).
Five years later, the farm — which has supplied Stew Leonard’s for decades, and since 2012 offers fresh produce and eggs through Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions — has edged closer to its next chapter.
The Belta family cares deeply for its farm, and the neighborhood. As Westport — and their lives — change, they’ve worked hard to come up with a plan they believe will enhance the area, while helping settle their patriarch’s estate.
On July 26, they’ll present a proposal for a text amendment to the Planning & Zoning Commission.
They hope to create an Agricultural Heritage Overlay District. It will enable them to build 9 single-family homes, on 1-acre lots — and retain 8 acres of the property for use as a working farm.
Four generations of Beltas would be able to stay on the land.
A site plan for the proposed Agricultural Heritage Overlay District.
Over the years — especially after the death of Jimmy Belta in 2012 at age 88 (a farmer to the end) — many developers have approached the family. Each time, they said no. The plans were not in keeping with the Beltas’ concept for the future of their farm and homestead.
The Agricultural Heritage Overlay District would, they say:
Current zoning regulations permit 2-acre lot subdivisions. So they could sell the entire property, to be filled completely with homes.
The Beltas’ say their proposal is “a unique land use concept that will enhance the surrounding neighborhood.”
Belta’s Farm Stand provides great produce to Bayberry Lane and beyond.
For over 70 years, the Beltas have been good neighbors — and great providers of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs to Bayberry Lane and beyond.
They no longer raise poultry and livestock there. The slaughterhouse is gone. Times change.
This time, they’re asking the town to help them move forward.
Without leaving their farm behind.
The greenhouse and outbuildings, today.
Bay Street wisteria clematis (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Posted in Downtown, Pic of the Day
Yesterday, Richard Blumenthal was in Texas. He toured a border processing center, and a detention center packed with 250 boys.
Today, Connecticut’s senior senator was in Westport. Standing on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge, lined with the flags of dozens of nations, he pointed to America’s stars and stripes flying directly overhead.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal on the Post Road bridge this afternoon. He pointed to the American flag — flying with many others — and said its values are more important than ever.
This country’s values are very important, he said told a crowd of about 100. They gathered to protest President Trump’s immigration policies.
But those values are under attack, Blumenthal continued. And, he warned, darker days may lie ahead.
Before he spoke, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (far left) stood with the crowd on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge. They listened as protest organizer Darcy Hicks described the important of speaking up against President Trump’s immigration policies.
The senator spoke of his own father — an immigrant fleeing Nazi Germany. The current president, he said, would have turned that 17-year-old away.
Blumenthal thanked Westporters for caring, and for speaking out and standing up. Those values, he said, are more important than ever.
One of the signs seen at today’s protest.
This message counters the one worn on a jacket his past week, by First Lady Melania Trump. It read: “I really don’t care, do u?” (All photos/Dan Woog)
Every dog has its day.
Today, they all do.
Winslow Park is filled with hundreds of pooches. Fido and Spot are there. So are Oliver, Cranium, Sparkle Plenty and all their friends.
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce’s 3rd annual Dog Festival draws dalmatians, beagles, poodles, greyhounds, chihuahuas, schnauzers and mutts.
There are expensively bred dogs and rescue dogs. They’re all shapes, sizes and ages.
Just like their owners.
The Dog Festival runs until 4 p.m. today.
See you at Westport’s favorite dog run!
(All photos/Dan Woog)
Last week’s photo challenge was perfect.
Ken Palumbo’s image showed a quirky bit of Westport. Everyone has passed by it. Almost no one notices it. It’s literally hidden in plain sight.
The photo drew a few quick guesses — close and plausible. But wrong.
Then Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Joelle Harris Malec, Tammy Barry and Kiri Woods all checked in with the right answer.
The shot showed a weird little figure hunched behind the large marble globe at the entrance to Longshore.
You can’t see it from South Compo Road.
Yet it’s visible to every golfer, jogger or walker, though. There’s one on the other side of the entrance too.
How many of us have ever looked?
Here’s a larger — and uncropped — photo:
The view from the Longshore entrance road, looking toward South Compo. (Photo/Ken Palumbo)
The little figures — they’re actually “foo dogs” (aka “Chinese guardian lions” are true wonders of Westport. If you know the story “behind” them, click “Comments” below.
Click “Comments” too if you know where in Westport you’d see this week’s photo challenge. HINT: This is also a place many of us pass by regularly. Do you recognize it here?
(Photo/Marguerite Webb)
Reveal parties are all the rage these days. They showcase everything from home renovations to the gender of a fetus.
The other day, Alison Milwe Grace — one of Westport’s favorite caterers — got into the reveal party act.
But she did far more than provide hors d’oeuvres for a new dining room, or the cake to say whether the new baby will be a boy or girl.
Alison hosted a reveal party for Kaden. He’s Make-a-Wish Connecticut’s newest recipient. The organization fulfills the dreams of youngsters battling serious illnesses.
Kaden’s friends and family gathered in Alison’s kitchen. They cooked together: Hawaiian sweet and sour chicken, with fresh pineapple and coconut rice. Plus Hawaiian potato salad.
Yep — Kaden is headed to Hawaii.
Kaden and his friends have fun. (Photo/Eileen Sawyer)
When the cooking was done, everyone ate together at a communal table. They had a wonderful meal.
And they talked about Kaden’s upcoming Hawaiian trip.
Mahalo!
Posted in Children, Local business, Organizations, People
jUNe Day flags, on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Post Road bridge (Photo/Heli Stagg)
Tim Hayes is a clinical psychologist in Syracuse. He got his undergraduate degree in 1982, and earned a Ph.D. at the State University of New York-Binghamton. He has not lived in Westport for decades (though his mother is still here).
But he often think of his hometown.
As the Staples High School Class of 1977 graduate and his wife begin to plan for retirement, he realizes that where he is today is a direct result of where he grew up. He believes he’d be a very different person even if he was raised in Fairfield or Norwalk.
Tim was born and raised in Greens Farms. “His” Westport was beautiful and idyllic. Within a 3-mile radius were the “wonderlands” of Burying Hill Beach (his “personal playground”), Long Lots Junior High, Staples, downtown Westport, and much more.
Tim Hayes’ Bombers went 19-1, and won the Westport Little League championship. He’s standing, 4th from right.
He put on his first Little League uniform, instantly transforming himself into “a new personality: a baseball player.” The program had a profound impact, from the coaching he received to playing at beautiful Gault Field, on the Saugatuck River.
He starred at Staples. Coach Brian Kelley called him the best player he’d seen since Bobby Valentine. Tim earned a full Division I scholarship to Kelley’s alma mater, Seton Hall University.
“My family could not afford college for me,” Tim says. “But baseball paid for my education. I believe Westport helped that to come about.”
Tim Hayes (#6) celebrates another Staples High School baseball win.
Growing up here, Tim says he was surrounded by wealthy and famous people. But they were regular folks. When Andy Jones encouraged Tim to skip school and go downtown, Paul Newman and Robert Redford walked by. “No one seemed to care,” Tim says. “That was great.”
His Staples classmates included Harry Reasoner’s daughter Ellen, and Linda Blair (star of “The Exorcist”).
Tim remembers Cindy Bigelow too. The other day, as he and his wife were grocery shopping, her huge photo promoted Bigelow Tea. Her parents bought her a new car for graduation. “That was not my middle class experience in Westport,” he says.
Tim calls Staples “a fabulous high school that I never fully appreciated. Going out into the world, I came to realize that many American high schools did not teach psychology or Latin — my 2 favorite subjects.”
Thanks to 2 long-ago psychology classes taught by Charles Burke, Tim Hayes found his life’s work.
“I write all of this to express my deep gratitude for my beloved hometown, Westport, and my beloved Staples High School,” he writes. “They made me who I am today.”
Staples High School English teacher Karl Decker took this photo of the Hayes siblings, which they gave to their parents for Christmas. From left: Tim’s older sister Kathy, Tim, his younger sister Theresa and his older brother Larry.
Posted in Education, Looking back, Sports, Staples HS
Tagged Brian Kelley, Charles Burke, Staples High School baseball team, Tim Hayes
Time for a swim, at Ned Dimes Marina (Photo/Sandy Rothenberg)
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