Yesterday’s Roundup included 2 dumb errors.
The 9th annual Dog Festival is Sunday, May 18 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Winslow Park). I said it was this Sunday; it’s actually a week later. Learn more here.
I also forgot to include the link to Staples High School student Jonathan Dobin-Smith’s powerful (and successful) plea at the Representative Town Meeting, to restore $25,000 to the Earthplace budget. Here is the speech; if it doesn’t start there, it’s at the 1:18:25 mark.
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Save the date. The always popular Staples Pops Concert is June 6 (7 p.m., Levitt Pavilion).
Free tickets are snapped up quickly. Watch this space for info (coming soon!) on how to snag yours.
Meanwhile, the Staples Music Parents Association invites local businesses to buy ads in the program book.
Contributions cover Pops Concert expenses, and help provide resources all year lon for over 400 students in the music program. For details, email staples.music.parents.assn+ads@gmail.com.
There’s always a full house for the Staples Pops Concert. (Drone photo/Brandon Malin)
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More SHS news: Kids in pre-K through grade 5 are too young to benefit from Staples Tuition Grants.
But they’re old enough to help raise funds, for the organization that since 1943 has helped tens of thousands of SHS graduates attend college.
The 2nd annual Kids Fun Run is Sunday, May 18 (8 to 9:30 a.m., Staples’ Loeffler Field). Registration is $25; visit @STGFUNRUN on Instagram.
The morning includes games, face painting, snacks, and a kids’ run. It’s organized by juniors Will Briggs and Alexis Krenzer.
Last year alone, STG awarded $381,500 to 105 students. To learn more, visit www.staplestuitiongrants.org.
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The weather has been off and on.
But Hook’d is on.
The Compo concessionaire has opened for another season. Let’s hope for many good beach days ahead.
(Photo copyright DinkinESH Fotografix)
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“Egrets” have come to Canal Green.
That’s the name of Westport’s newest outdoor artwork.
On Wednesday, the 7 1/2-foot stainless steel sculpture by Redding artist Babette Bloch joined 3 other sculptures recently placed in town parks by the Westport Art Advisory Committee, in collaboration with the Parks & Recreation Department.
Bloch is nationally known as a pioneer in laser-cut stainless steel sculpture
A celebration — including a short talk by the artist, a tribute by Westport poet laureate Donna Disch and refreshments — is set for May 31 (4 p.m.). Canal Park is at the interseection of Kings Highway North and Canal Street, just east of the Willows Medical Center.
“Egrets” at Canal Green.
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Longtime Westporter and musician Roger Kaufman’s forays into musical history have entertained and educated audiences for years.
He’s back on May 29 (7:30 p.m., The Warehouse at Fairfield Theatre Company).
“Speaking of Music Presents Road Trip to the 5Ms” includes both a presentation and live music.
Author/bassist/Fairfield University Professor Brian Q. Torff opens, with a talk on “Race and Music of the Deep South.
Then comes a 90-minute show by the Old School Revue All-Stars with the Saugatuck Horns, with kick-ass guest vocalists Audrey Martells, Tiffany T’Zelle, Billy Cliff and Billy Genuario.
They’ll perform a great collection of classic soul and R&B tunes, from the legendary recording studios of Muscle Shoals, Memphis, Miami, Macon and Motown.
The Old School Revue musicians have performed or recorded with the Blues Brothers, Steve Cropper, Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, Robert Palmer and the Rolling Stones.
I saw their previous show, in August. I give “the 5 Ms” 5 stars. Learn more about the show here.
Old School Revue All-Stars. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
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A large, curious crowd turned out yesterday, for an “Alternative Device Fair” at the Westport Library.
The event — sponsored by OK to Delay, the group supporting parents who delay giving their children smartphones — featured vendors selling products with the basic functionality of cellphones, but with fewer distractions.
Among the companies represented: Bark, Gabb, Pinwheel, Troomi, Dumb Wireless and Light and Tin Can.
Alternative Device Fair at Westport Library.
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Also yesterday at the Library: Over 50 people helped Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich launch their campaign for the Board of Selectmen yesterday.
The crowd included Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, state Senator Ceci Maher, and former state senator Will Haskell.
Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich (center), with supporters.
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One more event yesterday worth (very much) noting: On the company’s “Red Day” of service, agents with Keller Williams Realty’s Westport office filled 900 bags of healthy food, for Filling in the Blanks.
The Norwalk non-profit fights childhood hunger — which provides weekend meals to kids in need — has just opened a pantry at the University of Connecticut-Stamford.
Keller Williams agents, “filling in the blanks.”
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The Y’s Women have a special guest on Monday — and the public is invited.
Fiona Davis — author of 8 historical fiction novels set in iconic New York buildings, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library and Dakota — will discuss fascinating stories behind those landmarks, with veteran broadcast journalist Alisyn Camerota.
The event is May 12 (11:30 a.m., Green’s Farms Church). Non-Y’s Women (and men) can register by email: jildam00@yahoo.com
Fiona Davis
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Speaking of authors: Like any writer (and performance artist), Anya Liftig has seen her share of rejection letters.
Like perhaps no other, she has turned them into a book.
The 1995 Staples graduate — and author of “Holler Rat,” a memoir of her unique youth, balancing her lives in privileged Westport and the hollows of Kentucky — just published “Rejection/Ambition: A 25 Year Performance.”
Both a performance document and text work, it is culled from a quarter century’s “copious collection” of rejection letters.
Anya says, “Read from the Ambition side, it is clear-eyed in its determination for artistic recognition. Read from the Rejection side, it is a text about failure, mistakes, and confusion.”
You can purchase “Rejection/Ambition”on her website.
Anya Liftig (Photo/Stephen Dennett)
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The Green’s Farms Association welcomes a special guest to their annual meeting next Wednesday (May 14, 7 p.m., Green’s Farms Congregational Church).
Outgoing police chief Foti Koskinas will speak. Important topics for the neighborhood group include a police/fire/EMS facility proposed for the Sherwood Island Connector, and traffic.
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Westport native and lifelong resident Loretta Pastore died peacefully on Monday. She was 65.
Like her mother and daughters, she was a Staples graduate. Her family says, “she was known for her kindness, generosity, grace, and unwavering willingness to lend a helping hand.”
Loretta is survived by her sister, Annmarie Pastore Santolini (Tim); daughters Isabella and Gabriella Mikaiel; best friend, ex-husband and father of her children George Mikaiel, and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held Monday (May 12, 10 a.m., Assumption Church). A celebration of life will follow at 11:30 a.m. at Pastime Club (59 Seaview Avenue, Norwalk).
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to plant a tree in Loretta’s memory at Compo Beach, one of her favorite places. Donate to that fund here.
Loretta Pastore
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Whitmal Cooper sent a photo, with the caption: “Brant geese on the way to the Arctic at Compo”:
(Photo by Norm)
Who knew that’s where they’re headed?
But I do know it makes a very cool “Westport … Naturally” image.
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And finally … happy 76th birthday to the one and only Billy Joel!
(And so it goes … one more week of “06880” in the books. Thanks for being part of our online community, every day. If you’d like to support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
That led to a discussion of how much information board members and the public know about any particular non-renewal decision, then back to a debate about whether the Board of Education should weigh the views of parents and athletes in coaches’ non-renewal decisions.
As they’ve done at meetings since February — when a Westport couple described racially based incidents directed at their Staples High and Bedford Middle School daughters — parents, students and others have used the public comment time to talk about the treatment of minority students in the district.
The mother of a biracial 3rd grader described his plea for more books that represent him.