All those outdoor meeting places with log benches look alike.
There’s one at Earthplace. Another at the Westport Weston Family YMCA’s Mahackeno Outdoor Center.
But the one shown in last week’s Photo Challenge, courtesy of Mark Mathias, was the “chapel in the woods,” behind Saugatuck Congregational Church. (Click here to see.)
Built as an Eagle Scout project by Tobey Patton — son of scoutmaster Craig Patton and Saugatuck Church pastor Rev. Alison Patton, who moved last month to a new church in Maine — it actually is on church property.
There was a brief debate in the “06880” comments as to whether the chapel was inadvertently built on land belonging to the town.
But even though most people assume it’s part of Winslow Park, it’s not. Mathias provided proof — via the town of Westport’s GIS map system — it is the church’s woods.
Congratulations to Dan Vener, Jodi Stevens Bryce, Chris Buckley, Mary Sikorski, Molly Alger, Seth Schachter, Nancy Vener, Amy Schneider, Wendy Crowther, John Suggs, Nancy Bloom, Richard Ellis, Karen Kim, Robert Mitchell, Andrew Colabella, Tom Long, Karen La Costa, Matt McGrath, Colette Winn, Bruce Borner and Lois Himes. You definitely know your outdoor log benches!
Now to this week’s challenge.
Last week’s photo had nothing to do with the Y’s outdoor meeting place. But this one is definitely Y-related.
If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Nancy Barrer)
(If you enjoy our Photo Challenge — or any other “06880” features — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Posted onSeptember 17, 2023|Comments Off on Roundup: Make-A-Wish, Ella Fitzgerald, Fashion Week …
Make-a-Wish Connecticut is amazing. Every year they offer 150 kids — seriously ill, with so much to deal with — a chance to enjoy life. Whatever experience they want, Make-a-Wish makes it happen.
We read those stories, and feel great. But they often involve youngsters we don’t know, doing things in places far from here.
On October 3 (6 p.m.), 6 boys and girls will have their wishes come true just a mile from Westport.
Any “06880” reader can join them. And, at the same time, raise money to help other kids’ wishes come true.
Those half a dozen youngsters’ want to cook with top chefs. At Aitoro Applianee’s high end kitchens, they’ll join one of these celebrities:
Matt Storch (“Chopped” winner; chef/owner, match Burger Lobster and Match)
Robin Selden (managing partner, executive chef, Marcia Selden Catering and Naked Fig Catering)
Dan Kardos (chef/owner, Café Melba)
Christian Petroni (winner of “Food Network Star”; owner of Petroni Foods).
Each chef will work with the one youngster to prep and cook great food. Then everyone there can eat (and drink) it all up.
“Taste of Wishes” began in 2019. This year’s promises to be the biggest and best yet.
Along with the chefs’ and wish kids’ stations, other food samplings includ
Copps Island oysters
Bartaco
Forever Sweet Bakery
Fresh bread and zeppole, made on-site
Candy Connection truck
Bridgewater Chocolates cart.
A VIP ticket includes early entrance and a sneak peek, Prosecco, and great swag. Click here for VIP and general admission tickets, and more information.
Speaking of Make-a-Wish Connecticut: The other day, the Hartford Courant profiled Evie Herman.
The 15-year-old Westporter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was 6. She is now in remission.
Her wish was a special one: A 4-day visit to Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. It’s one step on her goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist.
The Greens Farms Academy sophomore and Saugatuck Rowing Club athlete says that for 2 years after her diagnosis, “I spent almost every day in the hospital surrounded by other patients and doctors.
“I think seeing these doctors and all the work that they’re doing and meeting patients younger than myself really inspired me to want to join the fight against cancer. Knowing what patients go through every day really made me want to try and make it so that one day no child will ever have to go through that again.”
Evie Herman at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Hartford Courant)
Westport PAL’s 2nd annual gala honors a first-rate family: the Romanos.
PJ, his wife Joan and son Pete have been synonymous with youth — and youth sports — for well over half a century.
PJ has died (but lives on in the name of the field behind Saugatuck Elementary School). Joan and Pete will draw a huge crowd on November 2 (6 p.m., the Inn at Longshore).
They’ll all enjoy an open bar, dinner, auction, entertainment and more.
Funds raised will help rebuild the PAL clubhouse at (of course) PJ Romano Field.
Click here for tickets, and information on sponsors and advertising.
When the Westport Country Playhouse canceled its production of “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play,” they promised a replacement.
Now they’ve got one. “First Lady of Song: Cherise Coaches Sings Ella Fitzgerald” takes the stage October 27 to November 5.
Coaches appeared on Broadway in “Waitress,” and was in the national tour of “Disenchanted: The Musical.”
She’ll be on the Westport stage with a band, performing classic tunes like “Summertime,” “The Lady is a Tramp” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.”
The 2023 New York Fashion Week had a Westport feel.
Christian Siriano dressed his models in jewelry designed by fellow Westporter Josh Levkoff. They have collaborate for several years.
The new collection featured custom diamond pieces crafted to reflect the theme of the season. Levkoff used Siriano’s “ballerina: theme to “incorporate elements of edginess and sophistication.” Click here for details.
A number of A-list, front row celebrities wore Levkoff’s work too.
Clarence Hayes has lived in Westport for 6 years. A senior vice president in global technology at Bank of America, he manages its user-facing data networks, and associated $225 million budget.
He has been married for 39 years, and has 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren. Two attend Kings Highway Elementary School. He helps with after-school tutoring and swim team practice.
A gardener and amateur naturalist, he is very familiar with Westport’s natural habitat. He takes advantage of, and values, the town’s many amenities, including the beaches and parks, Longshore golf, pool and skating rink, Levitt Pavilion, Library and Earthplace.
But, Clarence wonders:
What is the Westport vision?
As a relative newcomer to town and recent follower of town events on this blog, I’d like to offer a general challenge to my new hometown: Set a long term plan, and be more ambitious.
What could Westport be like, not only for me in a few years’ time, but for my grandkids, and beyond that for my grandkids’ grandkids? We should have a 50- year plan. It should be visionary. The town can have something to measure its progress against every year.
I followed one of my daughters – with a couple of my grandkids in tow — when they moved to Westport 6 years ago. They show no intention of ever moving again, nor will I. This town has amazing assets. With continued improvement, I can imagine Westport as #1 on a “Best Places to Live in the USA” list.
What I observe in the debates over the Parker Harding Plaza evolution, and the Long Lots School direction, and numerous one-off Planning & Zoning Commission decisions, are piecemeal challenges confronting what appear to be irreconcilable differences of opinion. Parking vs. green space; a convenient sport facility vs. a community garden; new development vs. river views; pro-car vs. anti-car; etc.
Parking? Green space? What’s our vision — for downtown, and our entire town? (Photo/Susan Leone)
Of course, not all differences can be reconciled. Choices are required. But I think more of those differences could be reconciled, and a higher quality overall result achieved, if we were more ambitious, and made bigger decisions based on a long- term vision.
Bigger decisions could mean, for instance, instead of minor tweaking of access and marginal rearrangements of which piece of existing Westport property is paved or green, we could look at working with developers to exchange town property for jointly developed major changes.
For example: multi-story/underground parking; taking control of becoming compliant with state affordable housing mandates by the town co-investing and controlling those housing units to achieve some bigger contribution to Westport quality of life; complete conversion of downtown to pedestrian only (basically an outdoor mall more attractive than SoNo or Trumbull); reclaiming all of the waterside for public benefit with walking paths and green space designed across all of downtown which will be used more widely, as opposed to patchworks that sit idle due to lack of connection.
I could go on.
I’d love to see what my fellow citizens imagine as a visionary future; compare it to mine – and debate how to merge these futuristic visions into something that could unite a broad majority of voters around a feasible plan.
A few years ago, architects were asked to imagine the Westport of 2050. Mike Greenberg thought about a way the town could become more neighborhood-oriented. This is a detailed view of the Roseville/ Long Lots/North Avenue/Cross Highway quadrant.
Without such a comprehensive long-term plan, I think the town risks frittering away its comparative advantage, foreclosing opportunities with short-term decisions, and not getting maximum bang for the buck with town tax revenue.
I think it better to consciously define our “brand” and decide what we want the town to be — with ambitious goals — than to leave it to the ongoing happenstance of decisions constrained by short-term implications, and the sense that there isn’t money or a way to achieve something better.
Call to action: The selectwomen’s office, together with the Representative Town Meeting, formally institute a “Westport Vision” process that engages the public and is primarily driven by public input, and has the objective to:
Document guiding principles for future development of the whole range of town assets – the “who we are” statement;
Lay out a range of futuristic visions to challenge our ambitions – something to get excited about, and stimulate debate;
Then, based on that vision, work backward to define and then prioritize ambitious steps that can be taken by relevant town boards and committees for action, to start that long-term journey.
Let’s make Westport the best place to live in the country, for us and our descendants.
One of Westport’s most iconic locations will soon have a new tenant.
A “For Lease” sign on Patagonia leads to this listing for 87 Post Road East — the 1909 Westport Bank & Trust building that’s now home to the clothing chain:
Located at the intersection of Westport’s busiest retail corridor of Main St, Post Rd and Church Lane, this landmark building is a standout location visible from all points that vehicle and pedestrian traffic enter the downtown. Located adjacent to Urban Outfitters and across from Anthropologie and Barnes & Noble. Space consists of 6,200 SF on grade on Post Rd, with and additional 1,650 SF of retail on lower level, accessed internally from selling floor. Historic charm abounds with high ceilings, and 10′ Palladian windows!
It’s a 5-year lease. Rental rate and type are negotiable.
Several residents got phone calls yesterday from 203-341-6000: the Westport Police Department non-emergency number.
Someone claiming to be from the WPD told whoever answered that they were being called on a recorded line, and had missed a court subpoena. The citizens recognized the calls as scams, and contacted the department.
The Police say, “We believe the end goal of these calls was to have the recipient send money or gift card information as payment for a fine or to avoid arrest. The Westport Police Department does not accept payment for any services, fees, etc. over the phone.
“Residents should hang up and contact our non-emergency number if they ever have a question regarding the legitimacy of a call from someone identifying themselves as a member of the Westport Police Department.”
Sustainable Westport is launching a 3-part energy learning series. The programs will bring together experts with Westport residents who have upgraded their homes with heat pumps/solar/geothermal.
The sessions (reception at 6:30 p.m.; presentation and Q-and-A, 7 p.m.) include:
All About Heat Pumps: October 3 (Click here to register)
Everything Solar: November 7
Going Geothermal: December 5
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A ground-breaking exhibit at United Nations headquarters, featuring Miggs Burroughs’ “Signs of Compassion” — 30 lenticular photos, showing local residents using sign language to recite Emily Dickinson’s poem of the same name, and Yurkiw’s accompanying Braille “prayer wheel” mantra, based on those he saw in Bhutan (including a wheelchair-accessible element) — opens next month.
The 2 works will be displayed on and next to a 102-foot curved wall.
Ever since the United Nations moved into its Manhattan headquarters in 1951, the lobby’s rotating art exhibit has been sponsored by member nations. For what is believed to be the first time, the featured works are offered by individual artists.
This is also the first time that Connecticut artists are featured at the UN.
The exhibit was made possible by individual donors. “06880” helped raise $18,000 fpr producing, printing and mounting the 30 large lenticular images; materials for the “prayer wheel” sculpture, and security for the reception (a UN requirement).
It is open to the public from October 10 to November 20, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Miggs Burroughs’ lenticular images on the , and Mark Yurkiw’s Braille wheel (right).
The other day, the Greens Farms Garden Club celebrated their third fruitful Growing for Good Project.
Thirteen harvests from Wakeman Town Farm and Prospect Gardens were delivered to Mercy Learning Center. The first was 17 pounds in June; by this month, the harvest was 75 pounds.
Members fought pests, protected their crops, fertilized vegetables, and plowed through the hot summer to produce the produce.
From left: Greens Farm Garden Club member Chen Yang, president Maybette Waldron, Prospect Gardens landscape designer Cindy Shumate, 1st Selectwoman Jennifer Growing for Good chair Jacque O’Brien.
This is the 29th year for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Fairfield County.
At least one participant has been involved with every one.
Denise Lucarelli says: “29 years ago, I was assisting at the front desk when the phone rang. The young lady began to explain that she was from the American Cancer Society, and they were sponsoring a new walk in Westport.
“I stopped her and said we would be glad to participate, since we are a radiology practice and early detection does save lives. She was amazed, and thought it would be much harder to convince me.
“We both laughed. Since that cold call, Advanced Radiology’s physicians, staff and family members have attended this vital and awesome walk every year.”
The walk draw approximately 5,000 walkers annually to Sherwood Island State Park in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Participants include healthcare systems, youth organizations, local and national businesses, and community teams (often honoring or memorializing survivors).
This year’s event is on Sunday, October 15 (9 a.m.). Click here to register, and for more information.
The American Cancer Society also sponsors a Men Wear Pink campaign. Participants are asked to raise at least $2,500; wear pink every day in October, and raise awareness through social networks. Click here for more information.
The Smart Walk for Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities is a family event celebrating the strengths of children with learning and attention differences.
This year’s walk — the 4th annual — will include volunteers tossing colored powder as participants stroll by.
It’s set for October 1 (noon to 3 p.m., Sherwood Island State Park).
Children will also enjoy critters from Stamford Museum & Nature Center, bridge building with 3DuxDesign’s Team STEAM, Sasco River Center sensory stations, glitter tattoos, crafts, photo booth, lawn games, refreshments, ice cream and more.
Parents and caregivers will learn about resources, and experience community.
Children’s author Sivan Hong will read from her “Super Fun Day” books. Also planned: a youth chorus performance and youth speaker.
Participants walk the 2-mile route along Long Island Sound at their own pace. Registration fees are $15; $10 for children ages 6 -12; free for 5 and under. Strollers are welcome. For information and registration, click here.
Westport Tilt Parenting is a support group for parents of neurodivergent children.
They’ve partnered with the Westport Library to host Debbie Reber. The educator, author and advocate for understanding and embracing neurodivergent youngsters will speak at the Library on November 28 (7 p.m.).
Her topic: “Understanding and Embracing Differently Wired Kids.”
Westport Tilt Parenting says that at least 1 in 5 youths are in some way neurodivergent (ADHD, learning disabilities, autism spectrum, gifted, sensory issues, anxiety and more).
However, they are often misunderstood. Current support strategies may be misguided; their strengths and gifts can be overlooked.
All parents of neurodiverse and neurotypical children are invited, as are teachers, administrators and interested others. Click here for more information. To learn more about Westport Tilt Parenting, email alexandre.acupuncture@gmail.com.
Comic art, deconstructed case-bound book boards, and visual mixed media all grace the walls of The Westport Library gallery spaces this fall. Local featured artists include Marc Zaref, Niki Ketchman, Rowan MacColl and Connor McCann.
Coinciding with the Neil Gaiman StoryFest keynote conversation (Friday, October 20) is the visual companion in the Sheffer Gallery, “Panels & Gutters: The Comic Art of Rowan MacColl and Connor McCann.”
The exhibition celebrates the form storytelling in comic art featuring MacColl’s and McCann’s illustrations with added panels demonstrating their conceptual and technical process. The graduates of Staples High School and Rhode Island School of Design are navigating the art scene with great success.
The opening reception and artist talk (Thursday, October 19; reception 6 p.m.; artist talk, 7 p.m.) will reunite MacColl and McCann reuniting their former art teacher, Katherine Ross.
“Cascade 2023,” by multidisciplinary artist Zaref, features an installation of recycled, deconstructed case-bound book boards.
The South Gallery hosts Ketchman’s “Resinations,” with mixed media resin visual works.
Rounding out the Library’s art activity is the Westport Artists Collective Affordable Art Trunk Show and Sale. It’s Sunday, October 1 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Library lower parking lot).
Forty Collective members will display their work out of their car trunks. All art is for sale, at affordable prices. ‘
A new family planning book by Westporter Dr. Mark Leondires goes on sale November 14.
“Building Your Family: The Complete Guide to Donor Conception” covers the complex medical and emotional considerations of becoming a parent, from choices (egg, sperm or embryo donation), through selecting a donor, through dealing with the ethical and practical dilemmas of parenthood.
Leondires is the founder and medical director of Illume Fertility. For more information and to pre-order, click here.
And at Burying Hill Beach, they don’t have to worry about fences.
Johanna Keyser Rossi spotted this monarch flitting about yesterday. It did not land, but she “captured” it for posterity — or at least, for our daily “Westport … Naturally” feature.
And finally … his name was not well known, but he “entertained” millions of music fans.
Bobby Schiffman, who led Harlem’s Apollo Theater in the 1960s and early ’70s, when it became a storied venue — died last week in Florida. He was 94. Click here for a full (and fascinating) obituary.
And — though after Schiffman’s time — here is Weston’s own Keith Richards, playing at the Apollo too:
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Westport may not be the Perfume Capital of the World.
But between Baron Walter Langer von Langenhoff — the founder of Evyan Perfumes, whose 20th-century White Shoulders has been called “the iconic American fragrance” — and Claudia Cusani’s new Westport Parfum, we punch at least a little bit over our weight.
Claudia — a 1973 Staples High School graduate — is the owner of Cusani Perfumes.
She’s also a Berklee College of Music alum, a former jazz singer and holistic healer. But today’s we feature her new fragrance. Claudia writes:
Inspiration for a fragrance can come from almost anywhere. In the case of Westport Parfum, it came from my hometown. Last year, news of an upcoming high-school reunion got me feeling very sentimental about my old stomping grounds — what the French call la nostalgie — and I thought it would be interesting to translate those feelings into a fragrance.
Claudia Cusani
Westport, Connecticut is a small coastal town, full of history and pretty scenery and charming old architecture. When I was coming of age there, it was home to quite a few professional creative types, and the town had an air of genteel bohemianism. For me it was an encouraging environment, a place where I felt supported in exploring my own creative instincts.
At the same time, Westport is classic small-town New England, with its winding country lanes, rocky beaches and Colonial homes. A strong historical vibe pervades the town, perhaps best exemplified by the Revolutionary War cannons that have sat squarely on the town beach for 250 years (yes, really! — they’re a relic from the Battle of Compo Hill).
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry, Claudia. They’re replicas. But the battle actually took place!]
And Westport’s agricultural roots as a nineteenth-century onion farming community — at one time it was the onion capital of the country — preceded its reputation as an artist’s haven, which began around 1910 and continues to this day.
Westport’s dualistic town character … its bedrock of tradition on the one hand, and its large creative community on the other … has always kept it interesting. Not just another suburban outpost, it’s got an energy that’s both cosmopolitan and comforting which draws in visitors from far and wide.
To name just a few of the many enjoyable things to do in Westport, there are beaches and marinas, a vibrant shopping district, fabulous restaurants, the Westport Playhouse, art galleries and historical societies, and the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts (where yours truly was the teenaged singer in the first band to ever perform there, many moons ago).
Of course, like everyone everywhere, growing up meant navigating various rites of passage, some of which I managed more gracefully than others. I’m grateful for my family and friends in Westport who loved and nurtured me through those years.
There were wonderful townspeople as well, like Sally the Record Store Lady, everyone at The Remarkable Bookshop, the guys at Westport Pizzeria and Oscar’s Deli, and many memorable others. They were all a part of my formative years, and for that, and for the sheer fortune of growing up there, I feel blessed.
Westport Parfum — redolent of woody, smoky autumns and fresh, green-smelling springs, of rivers and beaches and saltwater and tides, of the deep cool of summer shade, of home and comfort and, most of all, of nostalgia.
It’s a place forever imprinted with cherished memories. And though I eventually went off to live in other parts of the world, in a certain way, it will always be home to me.
Westport is a fragrance in the aromatic fougère family. It opens with fresh citrus and herbal top notes, segues into a powdery green floral heart, and dries down to a smooth, woody-amber base. It has a dreamy, ethereal quality that is counterbalanced by the depths of its marine and amber facets.
Key notes are spearmint, sage, bergamot, basil, lavender, magnolia, rose, jasmine, ambrette seed, vanilla, benzoin, seaweed, opopanax and patchouli.
Westport is built around 2 olfactive themes. An earthy, agrestic theme — through the use of hay, oakmoss, vetiver, patchouli, seaweed and other notes — evokes the natural environment of beaches and saltwater, woods and grassy fields, bracing autumns ablaze with turning leaves.
And a nostalgic theme — expressed through a cozy amber accord of vanilla, benzoin and labdanum, plus the deep comfort of roses and magnolia — reflects my emotional connection to the town.
Like all of my fragrances, Westport is hand-blended, 100% plant-based, synthetic-free and unisex.
In composing Westport, I wanted to create a rich aromatic experience that resonates for you the way the town does for me. I hope you enjoy it.
(Inspired to try Westport Parfum? Click here. For more about Cusani Perfumes, click here. Hat tip: Susan Woog Wagner)
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Another Staples High School football season has begun.
As is traditional, the Wreckers are gunning for their 5th state championship.
The first came in 1975. That’s around the time Fred Cantor took this photo:
(Photo/Fred Cantor)
Much has changed since then.
The stands have been enlarged. There’s a new press box. The track is no longer cinder. The area behind the gym (right side of photo, with parking lot) was “modernized” between 1978-81, when a fieldhouse and swimming pool were added.
Thanks to lights, Staples now plays football games on Friday nights, not Saturday afternoons.
The field itself finally has a name. It honors Paul Lane — coach of that 1975 state championship squad.
But much has not changed. A new fall season still brings excitement, fun — and the belief that anything is possible.
Today, “06880” introduces a new addition to our “Friday Flashback.” Each week (hopefully!) we’ll include a “50 Years Ago This Week” tidbit at the end. (Okay, maybe it will be “25 Years Ago…” or some other number.)
Thanks to Carl Addison Swanson for the idea. And big props to Fred Cantor: Staples Class of 1971 graduate and amateur historian, who loves digging into newspaper archives.
So … 50 Years Ago This Week:
Tennessee Williams, Sandy Dennis, and Dave Brubeck were among the prominent names featured in an ad for the new Connecticut Center for Continuing Education at the Westport Country Playhouse.
The Center promised “over 100 courses” during the Playhouse’s “nine-month ‘intermission.’”
(Whether you’ve been here 50 years or 50 days, if you like “06880,” please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Click here — and thank you!)
Tech talk, investment opportunities, entrepreneurial ideas and networking were all important parts of last night’s second Startup Westport meeting, at the Westport Library.
Dan O’Keefe — Connecticut’s chief innovation officer — discussed his work, and the opportunities available in the state. He was a late replacement for Dan Bikel, the Westporter and a key member of the AI community at Meta, who was diagnosed with COVID this week.
Click here for more information about Startup Westport, whose mission is to make Westport an innovation hub.
From left: Police Chief Foti Koskinas, Cliff Sirlin, Jay Norris, Connecticut chief innovation officer Dan O’Keefe, 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, Stefano Pacifico, Peter Propp. All except O’Keefe are Startup Westport team leaders.
Last night’s “PBS NewsHour” featured an in-depth look at the problems facing regional theaters around the US.
After beginning with Long Wharf — which has abandoned its home for several pop-up venues — the story pivoted “less than an hour south,” to the Westport Country Playhouse.
Incoming artistic director Mark Shanahan discussed the struggles facing regional theaters, while acting managing director Beth Huisking spoke about the future.
Shanahan added: “The theater is all about problems and problem-solving. It always is. What play are we going to do? Who’s going to be in it? Who’s going to light it? Who’s going to do the set? How are we going to tell people it’s out there? Who’s going to pay for it? What time of year are we doing it?
“How are we going to make any of this happen? Why are we ever surprised that there are problems? We just have a new set of problems, and sometimes a growing set of problems, and we have to figure out how to solve them.”
Click here to view the entire segment. (Hat tips: Dick Lowenstein and Dennis Jackson).
Screenshot of Beth Huisking and Mark Shanahan last night.
The Public Works Department’s fall paving program begins Monday (September 18). It runs through the end of October.
The following roads will be paved, though not in this order:
Hiawatha Lane
Ferry Lane West
Indian Hill Road
West End Avenue
Davenport Avenue
Beachside Avenue
Prospect Road
Lamplight Lane
Iris Lane
Blue Ribbon Drive
Hazelnut Road
Northfield Drive
Riverfield Drive (south)
Bayberry Lane (north of Easton Road)
Gray’s Farm Road
Questions? Call 203-341-1120.
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Bob Weingarten writes: “Years ago the Post Office changed all the outdoor mailboxes in Westport to provide only a small slot, big enough for envelopes, replacing a box with a door mechanism.
“Yesterday I posted a letter in the mailbox between UPS and Westport Hardware, at 606 Post Road East. There was some resistance, so I pushed it in. I felt the bottom of the slot entry. It was sticky, like some sort of adhesive was on the bottom rim. Perhaps someone placed adhesive in the slot to catcher letters, so they could retrieve them later.
“I asked at the UPS store about that. They said they informed the Post Office about the issue last week, but nothing was done about it. I called the phone number on the box to report it, but a recording said the phone was not in service.
“I wante to warn people to check the slot on outdoor boxes before placing letters in it. If it is sticky, do not use it.”
Mailbox outside the UPS Store. (Photo/Bob Weingarten)
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As Westport River Gallery on 1 Riverside Avenue celebrates its 20th anniversary in Westport, they feature a new collection by Dominique Dorie, from the Provence region of France. Click here for details.
“Fragrant French Lavender” (Dominique Dorie)
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What better way to end the week than by this very cool “Westport … Naturally” photo of Connecticut’s official state insect, a praying mantis:
And finally … on this day in 1969, before taking the stage with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at California’s Big Sur Folk Festival, Stephen Stills got in a fistfight with a heckler railing them for their profligate lifestyle.
The festival was raising funds for Joan Baez’ Institute for ghe Study of Nonviolence.
NOTE: The official video for this song was created by Westporter Jeff Scher.
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Westport Parfum — redolent of woody, smoky autumns and fresh, green-smelling springs, of rivers and beaches and saltwater and tides, of the deep cool of summer shade, of home and comfort and, most of all, of nostalgia.
