Stop the presses! Andrew Colabella did not click “Comments” with the correct answer for last week’s Photo Challenge.
But there was a good reason: He took the photo.
It showed a survey marker — that much was obvious. But where exactly was the US Army Corps of Engineers disk? (Click here to see.)
Compo Beach, near the Ned Dimes Marina. Michael Calise, Rich Vogel and Anna Rycenga knew that.
But where exactly by the basin?
Town engineer Keith Wilberg notes: “the west ramp near the boat launch.”
He adds: “I could give you coordinates down to the centimeter. But that would just put everyone asleep.”
We’ll stick with last week’s idea: We tell you exactly what the Photo Challenge is. But you have to tell us where.
(Photo/Dick Lowenstein)
Yes, Westport once had its own Town Court. Where would you go to argue a traffic ticket, contest a divorce or sue your neighbor?
Click “Comments” below. And if you’ve got a story about being there, let us know!
(The Sunday Photo Challenge is just one of “06880”‘s many regular feature. If you enjoy it — and any others — please consider a contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)
The road to the state championship ended one run short — and 3 innings extra — yesterday for the Staples High School baseball team.
The Wreckers’ Hiro Wyatt and Fairfield Warde’s Griffin Polley dueled brilliantly — and scorelessly — for much of the game. In the end — the 10th inning — Polley drove home the Mustangs’ winning run, in a 2-1 contest at Palmer Field in Middletown that was even closer than the score. It was the 2nd straight state title for the Fairfielders.
Congratulations to the Wreckers, and coach Jack McFarland, on their great run to the ultimate game of the season.
Hiro Wyatt — the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year — had a heroic season on the mound for Staples. (Photo courtesy of Staples Baseball)
Congratulations too to Staples’ number 1 doubles team. Karenna Birns and Audrey Kercher won the State invitational championship Friday, at the Milford Indoor Tennis Club.
The #3-ranked pair defeated Fairfield Ludlowe’s top seed 6-4, 6-3. They also won the semifinals in straight sets, over #3 Amity-Woodbridge.
Karenna heads to Georgetown University in the fall, and Audrey to the University of Florida. Congratulations to both — and to coach Jena Wider.
Speaking still of Staples: Westport photographer Tom Kretsch just returned from a tour/workshop in Washington state.
Walking around Pullman, he spotted pictures in many stores of the high school graduates, in windows and on signs.
He wonders if it’s something we could replicate in Westport.
Sounds like something to investigate. And it sure would be less intrusive than the epidemic of signs that sprawls all along the entrances to Staples, for every team and activity imaginable, which no one can even read.
And speaking again of baseball: The Westport Winners Challenger team, for players with disabilities, ended their 10th season yesterday with a special event.
A big party included player announcements and personalized trophies, plus free ice cream gift cards from The Porch at Christie’s.
Scenes from yesterday’s Westport Winners party. Coach Mike Connors (top left) has been with the program since it began in 2013.
The Little League Challenger division is one of the best sports programs in Westport. Congratulations to all who participate — and all who make it happen!
The Challenger crew. (Photo and hat tip/Beth Cody)
The public is invited to the magnificent Greens Farms property (Sunday, June 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; GPS either 13 or 25 Prospect Road).
Besides 9 acres of beauty and joy, Prospect Gardens offers something else.
Last year, the Greens Farms Garden Club has assumed responsibility for the 3-tiered vegetable garden, for their Growing For Good program.
Owners John and Melissa Ceriale turned over the space for their effort. All produce is donated to the Mercy Center in Bridgeport, at time serving as the only source of fresh produce for some of families.
Last year, the Greens Farms Garden Club donated over 1,600 pounds of vegetables. It’s a win-win-win: for the Ceriales, the Club, and Mercy Learning Center.
If it’s Westport in June, it must be Duck Time. Mark Mathias reports:
For years, the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club has presented The Great Duck Race. The big annual fundraiser raises money for charities.
Ralph Kreuger
But most people don’t know how the giant inflatable ducks came to become a Westport icon.
Ralph Kreuger — a long-time Sunrise Rotary member and master marketer –suggested in 2016 that the club buy a 30 foot tall inflatable duck to advertise The Great Duck Race.
It was made in China and shipped across the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal.
The club named the duck Sunny.
A 30-foot inflatable duck takes some serious wrangling, especially on water. And it’s really hard to move.
(Photo/Wendy Cusick)
For years Sunny floated on the Saugatuck River. He sometimes tipped over, sometimes blew away, but generally was a great sight for passersby.
People loved the duck. They loved taking pictures with Sunny.
(Photo/Audrey Sporre)
After a few years in charge of Sunny, Ralph died.
Sunrise Rotary wanted to continue the duck theme. So it purchased a smaller (relatively speaking) 12-foot duck.
The club honored Ralph’s memory and contributions by naming the new duck Little Ralphie.
Little Ralphie is what people see around town at the Memorial Day parade, and — leading up to The Great Duck Race — at various locations around Westport.
Right now, he’s in front of the Kohler showroom on Post Road East.
The Great Duck Race is Saturday, June 24. Attendance is free. For a chance to win up to $5,000 and support charitable causes, tickets can be purchased from any Westport Sunrise Rotarian or online.
The threat of rain and poor air quality drove the 7th annual Staples High Pops Concert indoors yesterday.
The move from the Levitt Pavilion to the school auditorium was unfortunate.
But the show must go on. And it did — in the traditional spectacular, wow-’em-with-talent-and-creativity fashion.
Pre-concert music featured groups like this. Colin Morgeson (piano — and “06880” intern), Josh Deitch (drums), Tegh Singh (guitar, rear), Jeffrey Pogue (vocals) and Whitman Teplica (guitar) rocked out “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Small vocal and instrumental groups, the Jazz Ensemble, Choralaires and Symphonic Orchestra played eclectic sets. Individual talents were showcased; so was the tight, well-honed work of larger groups.
Ben Herrera offered a stunning “You’ll Be Back” from “Hamilton.” “Now you don’t have to pay $1,500 for a ticket,” MC David Pogue said.
MC David Pogue — the proud father of 2 Staples music graduates, and one more next week — kept the show moving with his trademark humor and educational asides. As he noted often, it was almost as if the audience was under the stars.
Shanti Wimmer, backed by the Jazz Ensemble, sang a sultry version of Al Jolson’s “Avalon.”
Well, they were. The stars of the night were scores of Staples students, doing what they love, for a town that appreciates them and their wonderful teachers.
(From left): Rohan Wadhwani, Curtis Sullivan, Ethan Walmark, Max Ardrey and Ben Herrera, performed Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time.”
James Dobin-Smith, accompanied by Andrew Maskoff on piano, offered Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Host David Pogue brought the magic of the Levitt Pavilion into the Staples auditorium.
The Staples music educators who make magic happen. From left: Phil Giampietro, Caitlin Serpliss, Jeri Hockensmith, Luke Rosenberg. Missing: Carrie Mascaro. (All photos/Dan Woog)
And after another close game yesterday: Congratulations to the Staples High School boys lacrosse team!
They defeated archrival Darien — as they’ve made a habit of doing recently — yesterday 9-8, in the state “L” (large schools) tournament.
The victory by the #2 Wreckers over the #3 seed Blue Wave vaults Staples into the state championship game. It’s set for tomorrow, 3 p.m. at Sacred Heart University.
That’s a fitting spot for coach Will Koshansky’s team. They’re the defending state champs, after winning their first-ever title last spring.
Their foe on Sunday is Fairfield Prep. The Jesuits are the top seed.
Prospect Gardens – the magnificent Greens Farms property — is open to the public tomorrow (Sunday, June 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; GPS either 13 or 25 Prospect Road).
It was first settled in 1813. Noted landscape designer Cindy Shumate first saw the property in 1997; at the time, an 1874 farmhouse sat on an acre of suburban yard.
It has been expanded over time by John and Melissa Ceriale to 9 magnificent acres. Prospect Gardens now includes a Mediterranean garden, 2 orchards, an amphitheater, terraced vegetable garden, woodland walk and wildflower meadow. Winding paths lead from one area to the next.
Mark Demmerle will play classical guitar in the newly finished stone/grass amphitheater. It’s the first performance by anyone in the venue. For more information, click here.
June is dog license month. And all dogs over 6 months old must be licensed.
It’s $8 for neutered male or spayed females. $19 for male or female. There is a $1 penalty per month for renewal licenses issued after June 30. A $75 infraction will be issued for any non-licensed dog, and for any dog not wearing a tag.
Click here, then scroll down for online registration. To register by mail, click here. For all dog license information, click here.
Yeah, you’re cute. But you still need a license. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Speaking of Staples: The World Languages Department has awarded 215 “Seals of Biliteracy” to graduating seniors. The Seal “affirms the value of diversity and honors the cultures and languages in our community,” school officials say.
More than half of the seals — 126 — were for Spanish. Other languages represented were French (29), Italian (26), Mandarin (12), German (7), Latin (6), Hindi (2), and Czech, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Japanese, Marathi, Polish and Thai (1 each).
Blue skies are back. The orange haze and acrid smoke are gone.
But Charlie Scott is making sure we don’t forget.
The Staples High School junior — a talented photographer, videographer, runner and WWPT-FM sports announcer — has created a visual montage of the past few days.
And he’s picked an apt metaphor: “Blade Runner 2949.”
Click below for Charlie’s 53-second video. Let’s hope he does not have to make another.
Kathie Motes Bennewitz and Robin Jaffee Frank are Westporters.
But the women — executive director of the Hopper House Museum & Study Center/Westport town arts curator and senior associate curator of American paintings and sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery, respectively — cross the Hudson River next Thursday.
Frank will discuss “Social Distancing: Edward Hopper’s Paintings of Women Dining in Public” at the center in Nyack (June 15, 6 p.m.). She examines the artist’s “sexually and psychologically charged urban dining scenes, interpreted in the context of his life and art, and the larger history of women in American society.”
Former Westporter Frances Hyman died Thursday in Lynchburg, Virginia. She was 90.
The Roosevelt High School (Bronx) graduate met her future husband Leon through a mutual family acquaintance. They both loved classical ballet, and married in 1956.
They lived in Greenwich Village, Stamford and Sacramento, where Frances was a devoted member of Hadassah.
They returned to the East Coast in 1974 and lived in Westport for 45 years, until Leon died in 2019.
Frances led an active life here, volunteering for many causes including Save The Children , Dress For Success and the Stamford Arboretum. She loved Longshore, was an avid bridge player and gardener, and with her husband was a lifelong supporter of the New York City Ballet.
One of her proudest moments was participating in the 1987 “Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews” rally in Washington.
Frances was also predeceased by her sisters Eleanor Feffer and Barbara Skydel. She is survived by her sons William (Sarah) of Manhattan, and Scott (Phoebe) of Lynchburg, and grandchildren Alexandra and Chloe Hyman of Manhattan, Samuel Hyman of Athens, Ohio, and Jonathan Hyman of Denver.
A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday, June 11) at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. Memorial contributions in her name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association. To send online condolences, click here.
Posted onJune 10, 2023|Comments Off on Online Art Gallery #165
From the water to the jungle, welcome to today’s online art gallery.
Thanks for this week’s submissions. Remember: Everyone is invited to contribute. Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions.
All genres are encouraged. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage and (yes) needlepoint — whatever you’ve got, email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Share your work with the world! (PS: Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.)
“Tilt: Water Doesn’t Lie” — oil on canvas (Norm Siegel)
“Coral Waves 3” (Ken Runkel)
Untitled (Tom Doran)
“Gorilla” — graphite on paper (Clayton Liotta)
“Gianni Schiacchi — O Mio Bambino, From the Met-ow” (Mike Hibbard)
“Another View: Nantucket Splinter Sailing Through the Harbor” (Peter Barlow)
“Waiting for the Counter-offensive” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Oy, Not Another Zebulon Chagall Wannabe” (Steve Stein)
“Full Moon Saturday Night” (Sharon Paulsen)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Readers reacted quickly to last week’s “06880” story on traffic. It was the Comment section equivalent of the back roads of Westport, after an accident on I-95.
Ray Broady moved to Westport in 2014 from Southern California, where he and his wife of 53 years were born and raised. They came here to be closer to their only daughter and granddaughter. Ray retired in great health, after a career in contracting. His hobbies include boating, traveling and DIY projects.
Ray drives around Westport often, and to Greenwich 3 times a week. He wanted to write more than a quick reply to the traffic story. He thought a while, then sent this:
I feel I must somehow reach more Westporters who are as frustrated as I am about the traffic nightmare getting worse by the day in our great town, beyond just the Comments section.
I believe that the major traffic problem areas around Westport, which mainly involve 4 major intersections and roadways, are going to reach epidemic proportions in the near future.
Before COVID, these issues were worsening by the month. Now, after new arrivals, the volume of traffic at these locations has effectively doubled or tripled. Add in the new single-family housing and multi-family projects in planning and approved, and Westport has a recipe for a traffic apocalypse.
I am naming the 4 problem areas in detail, so concerned Westport residents and businesses can put their finger more easily on the map, and hopefully realize that “Rome is burning while Nero fiddles!”
Westporters must come together and put out his fire if we are going to have a wonderful town in which to live, work and play.
Westport’s Four Traffic Ills of the Apocalypse:
The Saugatuck Disaster:Exit 17 off I095 to Charles Street onto Saugatuck Avenue; also Riverside Avenue to the Cribari Bridge/Bridge Street to Greens Farms Road.
The Downton Deluge: Post Road West at the Riverside Avenue/Wilton Road intersection.
Kings Hwy north and Wilton Road, to Canal Street and Main Street.
The Weston Road/Easton Road/Main Street Confusion.
All 4 problem areas are on state highways. This creates a major impediment to solving these problems, because we must have state participation, assistance and approvals.
However, this should not stop or slow efforts to correct and effect cures to these problems. Where there is a will there is a way.
I love this town and what it represents. I am so glad the community cares and contributes to so many wonderful improvements and projects.
However, I feel we may have these traffic nightmares too far down the list of priorities.
We all know for example the growing success of downtown, and now the push to improve Parker Harding Plaza parking and retail access.
The town can shoot itself in the foot if it spends millions on the new project, without curing the difficult access to downtown that has developed.
Businesses will find that traffic-frustrated shoppers and visitors find it too difficult to transit the downtown to avail themselves of the great features if offers.
Public officials and departments should take up this issue in a serious, results- oriented way. Westport residents need to bring strong pressure to bear on these officials and departments to get a quick action plan together, and move this problem to top priority — not lip service, and not excuses.
We all know the Representative Town Meeting addresses and accomplishes a lot of issues, in a great forum of resident input.
But I am not sure this RTM has the heart and fire to tackle this issue without a lot of bitching and nostalgic references to the good old days, when the town only had 12,000 or so residents.
Those days are gone forever. The tomorrow train is racing toward a head-on collision with this town and its future.
Officials sometimes use this resident noise to sweep away the problem of the slate of priorities, and leave it to future discourse. There needs to be far more foresight about how we can keep Westport vibrant. Tackling these traffic problems will help assure a wonderful future for our special town of Westport.
Damn it, Come on, Westport. Let’s do this now!
(The Comments and Opinion sections of “06880” are open to all readers. So is the Donate page. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
The battle over 3 books in the Staples High School library is over.
After Westport resident Tara McLaughlin complained about the LGBTQ-themed works — “Flamer,” “Gender Queer” and “This Book is Gay” — a special committee held public hearings.
The committee voted on each book separately. Each vote was 10-0 in favor of retention.
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice upheld the committee’s recommendations.
His decision was appealed.
This afternoon, Scarice told “06880” that the appeal has been withdrawn.
Each committee member read the 3 books challenged by Tara McLaughlin.
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