When my husband Jim and I read on social media that the picnic tables on Parker Harding Plaza along the Saugatuck River were in disrepair, it occurred to us that they were the perfect gift to our town.
I remember when Lee Papageorge, the owner of Oscar’s Deli, placed them there many years ago.
I have been in town for 46 years, and Jim for 20. We raised our children here, and wanted to say thank you.
We contacted Maxx Crowley, executive director of the Westport Downtown Association, and shared our idea.
With the help of SCA and the WDA, we found the right benches. They should last many years.
Thank you to Maxx and his team for assembling the tables, removing the old ones and cleaning up the area.
The new Parker Harding benches. (Photo/Julie Whamond)
We give these tables in honor of those we lost on 9/11. We love driving by and seeing people enjoying their lunch by the river.
Now they can do it without the fear of a massive splinter.
Thank you, Maxx, SCA, the Westport Downtown Association! You are our Unsung Heroes of the week.
PS: We’ll add Julie and Jim to the list too!
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com. “06880” is proud to honor them — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to help us do that, by supporting this hyper-local blog.)
Plans are moving forward for the new Long Lots Elementary School and Stepping Stones Preschool.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker reports that the end of this month, or early October, will see “groundbreaking for the geothermal wells and site mobilization.” It’s the first major step in the construction process.
For updates, documents and more details, click here.
He was 33 years old. Today, he would be a grandfather.
Jonathan’s wife, Julie Whamond, is a Westport resident, and Representative Town Meeting member. She also volunteers as a docent, at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York.
Yesterday she and fellow RTM member Andrew Colabella visited the museum. They paused in front of a mural of blue tiles. Each represents one of the 2,977 people killed that tragic day, 24 years ago.
Andrew Colabella and Julie Whamond, at the 9/11 Museum.
Behind that wall is where the chief medical examiner office’s. Nearly a quarter century later, they store and test remains every day. Over 1,000 have yet to be discovered.
Part of Jonathan’s remains are kept on site. It is the final resting place for many victims.
As a docent, Andrew says, Julie tells the story of 9/11, and her personal connection to it. It, and she, serve as “a primary source of evidence of the impacts of terrorism that day,” he says.
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Tomorrow’s Slice of Saugatuck is on!
Delayed one week by rain, the annual Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce event will fill Riverside Avenue, Railroad Place and Bridge Square with 7 bands, tons of kids’ activities, retail offerings — and more 2 dozen restaurants and food purveyors, handing out tasty samples.
The Norwalk Art Space’s Arts Bash will have a very distinct Westport flavor.
The October 9 event (6 p.m., 455 West Avenue, Norwalk) — featuring exhibits, music, cocktails and gourmet bites, raising funds to provide free art education and exhibition opportunities to under-represented students and artists — will honor Melissa Newman, for her many contributions to arts and arts education.
The longtime Westport resident is a noted artist, writer, teacher, sculptor, painter — and jazz singer.
A Norwalk Art Space board member, Newman is also a dedicated mentor. “Her multifaceted artistic career and deep-rooted passion for the next generation of creatives make her an ideal honoree for this year’s celebration,” the Art Space says.
Another Westport connection: The Arts Bash co-chair is local resident Dale Najarian.
During the Gilded Age, America’s favorite sage, sociologist, philosopher and
news analyst was Mr. Dooley — a bartender invented by Chicago newspaper editor Finley Peter Dunne.
Though hardly remembered today, Dunne’s humorous newpaper columns were read all over the world. Mr. Dooley’s opinions were read at White House cabinet meetings; robber barons and politicians lived in fear of the bartender’s sarcasm.
Starting tonight, Mr. Dooley comes to life at the Westport Community Theatre in “Dooley at the Bar,” a one-man show created and performed by Alexander Kulcsar.
The play — which opens WCT’s 68th season — runs for 10 performances, on Fridays and Saturdays (7:30 p.m.) and Sundays (2 p.m.), through September 28.
The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters and State Representative Jonathan Steinberg discuss “climate wins from the 2025 legislative session, and plans for the future” on September 17 (9:30 a.m., Westport Library). The public is invited.
The American Parkinson Disease Association Connecticut Chapter holds its annual “Optimism Walk” at Sherwood Island State Park on September 20 (11 a.m.). The event raises awareness and funds. Click here for more information.
School has begun. The temperature is slowly dropping.
But the Levitt Pavilion continues to offer great entertainment.
DNR — the nearly-all-physician classic rock band — played to an enthusiastic crowd last night.
They’ll be back again just a few yards away on November 1. That show is indoors, at the Westport Library. It’s a benefit for Norwalk Hospital’s Whittingham Cancer Center.
I posted yesterday’s Roundup story about the Hackett family’s used sports equipment drive — it benefits Leveling the Playing Field, a non-profit that helps youngsters in need — without including where to drop the cleats, balls and more off.
They’ll be at the Granola Bar this Saturday and Sunday (December 10 and 11), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Click here for a list of items you can donate. You know you’ve got some of it lying unused all around your house!
From left: Max Levitt (Founder of Leveling The Playing Field), Alex Hackett, Daisy Hackett, Chloe Hackett
The Westport Police have released arrest reports for the December 1-7 period.
Two people were detained in custody. One was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, failure to obey traffic control signal, and failure to drive in the proper lane.
The other custodial arrest was for conspiracy to commit burglary; oeperating a motor vehicle without a license; failure to renew registration; misuse of plates, and insurance coverage fails to meet minimum requirements.
The following citations were issued:
Traveling unreasonably fast: 18
Stop sign violation: 4
Violation of any traffic commission regulation: 3
Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 2
Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 2
Failure to display plates: 2
Misuse of license plates: 1
Insurance coverage fails to meet minimum requirements: 2
Longtime ESPN reporter, E60 host Jeremy Schaap — a 1988 Staples High School graduate, and current Westport resident — never shies away from important issues.
He is the lead reporter and narrator of a new film, “The Survivor.” The documentary examines the 1972 Munich Massacre. That September, terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletics at the Summer Olympics.
Schapp will screen the film at the Westport Library on Monday (December 12, 7 p.m.). Immediately afterward, the 11-time Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist will host a talkback
Schaap traveled to Israel and Germany to tell the story through the eyes of 86-year-old Israeli race walker Shaul Ladany. He survived the massacre — as he had World War II and the Holocaust, when he was a child.
“In his long life, Shaul Ladany has seen up close the worst of humanity,” says Schaap. “Not only has he survived, he has pressed forward, constantly, to lead a life of achievement. The lessons of his life are valuable to us all. I was honored to be part of the team that told the story of what he endured and what he witnessed. Ladany’s story is not so well-known here in the United States — but it should be.”
The Munich Massacre was the first terrorist attack broadcast live on television around the world. “The Survivor” breaks down the tragedy through archival video and news reports, along with new interviews and reporting.
If you’re Soles4Souls — the non-profit that collects new and gently used shoes — you’ll distribute them to people in need.
And you’ll do it with Westporters’ help.
This holiday season, Ken Bernhard and Ted Freedman led a drive that collected all those 500-plus shoes here. Collection boxes were placed at Town Hall, police headquarters and the Senior Center.
Ken and Ted thank all who contributed. It’s one small step — now, in proper shoes — to help break the cycle of poverty.
The Westport Rotary Club presented its annual Community Service and Public Protection Awards on Tuesday.
Recipients included artist and homeless advocate Nina Bentley; former Westport 1st Selectman Jim Marpe; RTM veteran Velma Heller; the Westport chapter of the National Charity League (represented by member Lisa Price), and Builders Beyond Borders executive director Amy Schroeder-Riggio.
Firefighter Rob Lenois and police officer Kevin Smith also earned awards for individual acts of heroism.
Nina Bentley receives her Westport Rotary Club award from Karl Mergenthaler and Leslie Roberts. (Photo/Jeff Wieser)
After opening on Main Street in late 2020 — in the midst of COVID, the 3rd outpost after New York and Los Angeles — the exhibit space moved to Post Road East.
Next stop: Fairfield. The 1700 Post Road location opens January 1.
“I love Westport. But the rent it too high for permanent space,” owner George Billis says.
He looks forward to welcoming customers to his new gallery. And hopes they’ll stop by before he relocates, for the moving sale going on now.
The first site of George Billis gallery, on Main Street.
The moon sets every morning. That gets less love from “06880” photographers than when it rises, and hangs high in the sky.
And a lot less love than sunrises and sunsets.
So today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo shines a light on the moonset. It was taken this morning by Matt Murray, and shows Sherwood Mill Pond, looking west toward Hillspoint Road.
And finally … Joyce Bryant died recently, in Los Angeles. She was 95, and suffered from Alzheimer’s.
I’d never heard of her. But according to her New York Times obituary, she was :a sultry singer of the 1940s and ’50s who broke racial barriers in nightclubs and raised the hackles of radio censors before setting aside her show business career in favor of missionary work, then reinventing herself as a classical and opera singer,”
Click here for her fascinating life story. Click below to hear a bit of her work:
(Obscure nightclub singers, police reports, menorah lightings, new Japanese restaurants — “06880” brings you all the Roundup news, every day. If you enjoy our work, please click here to contribute. Thank you!)
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