Two weeks ago, I lost a ring while doing errands in Westport. It was insured, but its value to me was more sentimental than monetary.
After efforts to find it failed, I was about to be resigned to the loss. Then I realized I had overlooked the lost-and-found at Fresh Market, near where I might have lost it.
To the mutual delight of the manager and myself, the ring was safe and sound in their keeping.
It had been found in their parking lot. It’s amazing to me it had not been run over or stepped on, and was even noticed in such a busy area on a cold winter day.
To whoever found it, I offer my gratitude and respect for your sensitivity and integrity. It was kind indeed to take the time to put it into safekeeping.
I hope that you read :06880,” and know that your kind action made this a mini- miracle for me.
Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com.
(“Unsung Hero” is a weekly feature of “06880.” Please click here to contribute to our work. Thank you!)
Posted onMay 7, 2022|Comments Off on Roundup: Post Road Improvements, “Straight White Men” & A Drag Show …
“06880” is not a big fan of political photo ops. They’re — well, political photo ops.
But we’re happy to announce one set for Monday. The reason for it is a great one.
State Senators Will Haskell and Stephanie Thomas, State Representative Jonathan Steinberg, 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and Department of Transportation senior advisor Carlo Leone will gather at 10 a.m. at the “Westport Plaza” (known to normal people as the Home Goods/Panera Bread shopping center near the Southport line) to celebrate $11.7 million in funding for Post Road safety and traffic improvements.
The work will add left-turn lanes at Bulkley Avenue and Roseville Road, and the Fresh Market light.
Work will begin this fall, and is expected to take a year.
Left-hand turning lanes are planned for the Post Road near here.
The Westport Country Playhouse curtain rises May 24 on “Straight White Men.”
The cast of the comic satire — which ran on Broadway in 2018 — includes Richard Kline (Larry Dallas on “Three’s Company”). He’ll be directed by his Northwestern University classmate, WCP artistic director Mark Lamos.
Lamos calls it a “bold, exuberant, very funny comedy. Near the end it builds up to a surprising dramatic punch.”
The show takes place on Christmas Eve. Ed (played by Kline) has invited his 3 grown sons back home for pranks, Chinese takeout, and gossip. In between the male bonding rituals and conversations about money, work and love, they are forced to face their own identities.
Spots are going fast for Wakeman Town Farm’s summer camps. They include:
Little Farmers (4-6-year-olds): Children dabble in every farm experience from planting and harvesting fresh veggies to feeding the animals. Youngsters learn how to spot squash bugs, collect eggs from the coop, and where to look for monarch caterpillars.
Junior Farmer Camp (7-10 year-olds): Great for kids who want to get their hands dirty. They learn about sustainable farming by planning, planting and caring for a garden, feeding animals, and raising a successful garden using both modern and time-honored technologies.
Green Teen (6th-8th graders): The focus is on planting, watering and harvesting vegetables that will be donated to local food pantries. Representatives from receiving agencies visit the Farm, talking about food insecurity and how community volunteering changes lives. Students will also learn about rabbits, ducks, chicken, sheep, goats and alpacas. Environmental topics include composting, creating a pollinator garden, and the Zero Waste initiative.
Riverside Avenue between Charles Street (Tutti’s) and Railroad Place (Steam Coffee) will be closed to traffic Monday and Wednesday, for paving.
New York-bound passengers can be dropped off by driving through the eastbound (Ferry Lane) parking lot, and continuing under the railroad bridge. Passengers can also be dropped off in the Charles Street lot, and walk up the stairs to the platform.
This stretch of Riverside Avenue will be closed Monday and Wednesday.
Deb Robicheau is the Westport Book Shop’s guest artist for May.
She’s showing sculptural mixed media boxes, created during the pandemic. They incorporate comic book art from the 1930s through the ’80s. All works are available for purchase.
Robicheau — a visual artist, sculptor, painter, writer and screenwriter — has lived in Westport since 2010.
Westport Pride and MoCA Westport invite everyone to “All 4 Drag and Drag For All.”
The drag show (June 4; 5:30 p.m. cocktail hour, 6:30 p.m. performance, followed by a Q-and-A with the performers, at MoCA) is “an epic family-friendly experience.”
The headliner is 15-year-old Desmond Napoles, a New York City model, public speaker, fashion designer and voguer. Click here for tickets, and more information.
Desmond Napoles’ stage name is “Desmond is Amazing.”
Yesterday’s “hurricane” was a dud. All that time spent hauling in patio furnitue, hauling boats out of the water, hauling ass around town for food, batteries and gas — what a waste!
Except it wasn’t.
Storms are capricious. We expected to be battered this time, but barely got a tap. Last summer, no one was worried about Isaias. It brought us to our knees.
It’s the same with winter weather. We’ve stripped Stop & Shop of all its eggs and milk, only to receive a few flakes. And we’ve been homebound for days after snow and ice we didn’t really expect.
So what’s the lesson? Should we ignore every warning, and just try to be prepared all the time?
No. The weatherpersons have gotten their forecasts right far more often than they’ve been wrong. Listen to the experts. It really is better to be safe than sorry.
Or put another way: It’s a lot better to be pleasantly surprised that Henri was a dud — in Westport, at least — than to broil in the dark, with no utility truck in sight for days, because of a storm we were not worried about.
Homes on Compo Cove — many boarded up, in anticipation of Hurricane Henri — yesterday. Instead of high winds and heavy rain, the day passed without incident. (Photo/Andrew Colabella)
After closing the town’s Emergency Operations Center yesterday afternoon, 1st Selectman Jim Marpe said:
“I want to thank our residents and businesses for heeding the instructions to remain at home and prepare for what could’ve been a major situation. I hope that for many Westporters, today was a day well spent with family, or at least a chance to test and improve your emergency preparedness.
Thank you also to the Westport Fire, Police, Public Health, Parks & Recreation, Public Works and Human Services Departments for their efforts to monitor and prepare to respond to the needs of our community.”
Fire marshal Nate Gibbons provided updates on Henri yesterday, on WWPT-FM. He had little to report.
At Staples, Sam Wilkes was all music, nearly all the time. He played in the band, jazz band and orchestra. (He also took as many English courses as he could: 4 in senior year.) In high school, he says, “I learned how to learn.”
After graduating in 2009, Sam headed to the University of Southern California. He was in the 1st class of the new Popular Music Performance program.
He’s still playing — and living life on his own terms.
The August 23 issue of The New Yorker includes a piece about Sam and his musical partner, Sam Gendel. Kelefa Sanneh explores their 2018 jazz-and-more album “Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar,” one song of which was featured n the Netflix movie “Malcolm & Marie.””BOA” has been streamed nearly 2 million times on Spotify.
Wilkes is doing plenty of recording, including with Chaka Khan. Sanneh expresses surprise in The New Yorker that he and Gendels do not tour more, and describesthe quirky route to where the duo is today. He appreciates, though, their simplicity, ambience and texture.
Sanneh mentions a video Wilkes and Gendel filmed with the band KNOWER. They help the group “burn through a breakneck funk groove”; Wilkes, he says, “contributes a particularly tasty bass fill.”
it’s been viewed more than 5 million times. (Click here for the full story.)
Don Everly — the older of the duo, whose “fusion of Appalachian harmonies and a tighter, cleaner version of big-beat rock ’n’ roll made them harbingers of both folk-rock and country-rock” (according to the New York Times), died Saturday at his Nashville home. He was 84.
It’s been a while since “06880” ran a bad (aka “entitled”) parking photo.
No, Westporters have not suddenly learned to park cautiously, courteously and cleanly between the lines.
They’re as inconsiderate as ever.
What’s changed are my standards. Now, to qualify for a post on this blog, the parking job must either:
Involve 3 or more (yes, it’s possible) spaces, not “just” 2, or …
… Be so jaw-dropping, gob-smacking, head-thunking unbelievable that no one other than the parker himself or herself could have dreamed up.
#2 was on full display yesterday at Fresh Market.
(Photo/Alana Flinn)
I know my readers. 60% will agree that this is really, really bad.
15% will ask why I didn’t show the license plate. (Because it wasn’t visible in the photo, duh.)
10% will ask if someone called the police. (They can’t do anything. It’s a private lot.)
10% will wonder why I keep posting photos of entitled parking, and make some snarky remark about “06880” in general. (NOTE: I do not force anyone to read my blog.)
And 5% will excuse the parking, because “the driver might have had a medical emergency.” (There were no medical personnel on the scene.)
Art imitated life last night, at the Imperial Avenue parking lot.
A 40-foot movie screen was erected for the Remarkable Theater’s 2nd season — and a cameraman was there to film it.
The (metaphorical) curtain rises tonight at 7:30 p.m., with “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” “Sneak previews” follow through Tuesday. Click here for details and tickets.
“We residents on Pequot Trail are very upset by this week’s clear cutting of a lovely wooded area that provided privacy for multiple properties around the entrance to our street. Every time I turn onto the street now, my heart sinks.
“We’re sad enough that the charming house is being torn down — we get that this is inevitable — but did all of the mature trees and coveted privacy for multiple homes need to be callously destroyed?
“I called the town and was told that initiatives to restrict tree cutting have failed multiple times. I wonder what needs to happen to get our town, which prides itself on being so ‘green,’ to put a stop to this kind of environmental desecration?
“To preempt any comments about ‘city people’ moving in, this property was bought by a Westport family. That makes it so much more disappointing.
Clear cutting, around the house that will be demolished.
When COVID canceled last year’s annual plant sale, the Westport Garden Club planted a sign: “See You in 2021.”
True to their promise, this year’s in-person (sale is set for Friday, May 14 (9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.). The new location is Jesup Green.
Gardeners can purchase plants the day of the sale, or online starting May 1. Click here for information.
Online orders will be available for curbside pick-up. And club members will be on hand during the sale to offer expert advice.
In more Garden Club news: “Friday Flowers,” the campaign initiated in the dark days of last spring to lift spirits and beautify the town, returns this summer. The first installation (May 7) is at Saugatuck Congregational Church. Floral arrangements made by club members will be displayed each Friday through Labor Day.
For a long while, Coffee An’ was open for takeout only.
They’ve now got indoor seating too. It’s limited, socially distanced, safe — and within amazing aroma distance of their wide selection of donuts (an’ more).
There are plenty of great breakfast and lunch places in town. Coffee An’ is at the topo of any list.
Amy Mandelbaum is vice president of the OUT Foundation, which encourages the LGBTQ community to participate in fitness, health and wellness activities.
She also owns CrossFit Westport. There’s no better place to encourage the inclusion she champions.
So on Saturday, April 17 (9:30 a.m. to noon), her gym — just over the Norwalk line, at 19 Willard Road — sponsors an “OUT Athletics” event. The warmup and workout is fun, doable — and everyone is welcome.
There’s food, coffee, and gift bags from sponsors like Garnier and Goodr sunglasses. Each heat lasts 45 minutes to an hour; then comes (socially distant) socializing.
For more or information or to sign up, click here.
With little rainfall and low humidity recently, Westport’s brush fire danger is high.
The Fire Department responded to 2 brush fires yesterday — simultaneously.
The one on Sherwood Island Connector was quickly extinguished. The other — between Parsell Lane and I-95 — brought 30 firefighters and officers from Westport and Fairfield, with 7 engines and 1 ladder. It burned 3 1/2 acres, but there was no property damage or injuries.
Westport Firefighters were dispatched to two simultaneous brush fires, one on the Sherwood Island Connector at Nyala Farms Road and the other on Parsell Lane.
This is amazing! Who would have guessed that “the friendliest curbside experience in America” is located right here in Westport? At our Fresh Market!
A cynic might demand proof.
I just want to know: Is this “the friendliest curbside experience” for supermarkets throughout America only? Or does it include everything: restaurants, bookstores, hardware stores, liquor stores, whatever?
If you missed Monday night’s TEAM Westport Teen Diversity Essay Contest livestream — or read the essays on “06880” the next day, and want to watch the winners’ powerful deliveries — click below.
And finally … today is the birthday of songwriter Yip Harburg. He was born on the Lower East Side in 1896. he survived the blacklist of the 1950s, and died in 1981.
Some people think a Photo Challenge is unfair because it shows an obscure part of Westport. Others get made because it’s a spot they’ve never seen.
To which I say: Suck it up. That’s why it’s a Photo “Challenge,” not a “Slam Dunk.” This isn’t intramural sports. Not everyone gets a trophy.
But I knew when I posted last week’s shot that it was totallyunfair. There was no way 50% of my readers would have any idea where to find Molly Alger’s image.
It was the ladies room at Fresh Market.
I couldn’t resist. It was a nice photo (click here to see). And — as John Kelly pointed out in the comments — Albert Ellis often asked his patients, “Where did you get the idea that life is fair?”
Susan Iseman was first with the correct answer. She was also last. No one else knew (though a few readers guessed it was a women’s room somewhere).
Who knew there are flowers in those places? Not I. And not half of my readers.
I will spare you a shot of a urinal for that half. Instead, here is this week’s Photo Challenge — back to 100% of our audience. If you know where in Westport it is, click “Comments” below.
And if you don’t know: I don’t care. Life is not fair.
Exactly one year ago, Westport was all aflutter over a pair of ospreys.
Every spring, the magnificent raptors return “home.” They build nests at Longshore, Sherwood Mill Pond — and, most visibly, on a utility pole between Fresh Market and Terrain.
Last year though, Regency Centers — the owner of the property — suddenly removed the pole.
It took awhile to untangle who exactly did the deed — the management company or a sub-contractor (who claimed falsely to be Audubon Society workers). They also lacked the required permit from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Then we found out that the illegal osprey nest removal was done prior to Planning & Zoning Commission approval for parking lot renovation work.
A year later, the parking lot project is still underway.
But — as Westport hungers for a bit of good news in the midst of a brutal pandemic — we’ve got some.
The ospreys are back!
Eagle-eyed “06880” reader Carolyn Doan — who took these magnificent photos — reports, “They are doing their mating ritual. She calls out to him from the nest. He brings her food, and sits in a nearby tree. Sometimes he helps tidy up a bit.
“The construction guys who are there love to talk about them,” Carolyn adds. “They fill us in about the activities — what food the male is bringing in (mice, fish), which trees he likes to keep watch in, when she calls out. It’s very sweet.”
(Photos/Carolyn Doan)
Meanwhile though — because every silver lining has a cloud — there is this, from equally alert “06880” reader Dick Stein:
The last tree standing at the Fresh Market shopping plaza was cut down on Wednesday.
Before …
The 80-year-old oak sat on state property. The town of Westport had no say.
On its face, there’s nothing strange about last week’s. It showed a pleasant domestic scene: rocking chair, clock, old-fashioned radio, pastoral farm painting.
What made it odd is that it can be found in a very public place: above the produce section at Fresh Market, on the Post Road. In fact, there are several similar scenes throughout the store.
Who knew? Not I — and I shop there. Photographer Evan Barr had to clue me in.
Morley Boyd knew, of course. He knows everything. Sylvia Corrigan and Robin Levey did too.
Most readers were as clueless as I. But I’m sure all of us will look up a lot more the next time we check out the radishes and raspberries.
You, meanwhile, can check out the photo — and the comments, which veered into other realms, since most readers had no idea where the photo was taken — by clicking here.
Meanwhile, if you know where to find this week’s Photo Challenge, click “Comments” below.
One hint: It’s not at Fresh Market. Or anywhere else indoors.
Ongoing construction has made the Fresh Market shopping center a bit grotty.
But it won’t last forever. And when the work is done, a new fast-casual eatery will join current tenants like Colonial Druggists, Dan’s Liquors and Orangetheory Fitness.
According to its website, the 5-year-old chain offers “wholesome, healthy food that not only tastes great, but makes you feel great.” Food is “carefully sourced … from farmers and purveyors we trust, guaranteeing all of our food is gluten-free and better for you.”
There are a dozen Little Beets already, in New York, Westchester, Long Island, Washington DC, Virginia and Florida.
The menu includes make-your-own rice and quinoa-based meals, poké and other bowls, vegetable sides, and breakfast sandwiches, parfaits and oatmeal.
A little bit of the Little Beet menu.
And if you don’t like it, there’s Dunkin’ Donuts across the street.
FUN FACT:The Fresh Market shopping center is actually called The Village Center. That’s as little known as the official name of the Sherwood Island Connector: State Route 476.
This summer, Westporters focused on a state Department of Transportation plan involving special left-turn-only lanes, curbing, sidewalks and more at the Fresh Market shopping center.
That’s far in the future. We should have been focused on a more immediate plan to renovate the facade. And the parking lot.
As customers have noted this week, work involved the installation of spiffy new old-fashioned light poles.
But there was a cost. Gone is some of the landscaping that once made the shopping center if not pleasant, at least tolerable.
(Photos/Michael Calise)
The work is not finished. Perhaps beautiful new trees and shrubs will be planted.
And perhaps one day I will walk to the planet Zork, too.
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It had been found in their parking lot. It’s amazing to me it had not been run over or stepped on, and was even noticed in such a busy area on a cold winter day.
According to its website, the 5-year-old chain offers “wholesome, healthy food that not only tastes great, but makes you feel great.” Food is “carefully sourced … from farmers and purveyors we trust, guaranteeing all of our food is gluten-free and better for you.”
