Tag Archives: Mark Yurkiw

Online Art Gallery #311

Our online gallery artists often roam the world for inspiration.

Today, several of them look only as far as their home town.

Compo Beach, Longshore, the Levitt Pavilion, Staples High School — and a unique lending library — are all featured this week.

You never know what you’ll find, wandering our e-walls. That’s part of the appeal of this weekly feature.

As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in. As they have for 6 years, lovers want to know.

“We Read Books” — copper, AZEK and glass. Eric Bosch built and painted this “Free Little Library” for his grandchildren’s neighborhood with the help of his son Greg, along with Amelia and Theo.

“Paper Bird” (Amy Schneider)

“A Fish Tale” — collage 3-D impasto acrylic on a 36 x 36 canvas (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled — collage; Matisse-inspired (Lauri Weiser)

“The Levitt” (Rowene Weems — Available for purchase; click here)

“Vanishing into Light” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)

“Reflecting at Longshore” (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

“Morning Magic, Compo Beach” (Tom Kretsch — Available for purchase; click here

“Folds” — compound photo (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled — 5″ x 7″ mixed media note cards (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)

“Pop Art Portrait” (Ella Barborak, age 15 — One River Art student)

“Who Needs a Beautician When My Friends Powder Me Every Day?” (Mike Hibbard)

“After Market” (Lawrence Weisman)

“Brass Passover Seder Plate on Matzah Background” (Steve Stein)

“Presidential Library” (Mark Yurkiw)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #310

Happy anniversary!

Our online art gallery turns 6 years old today.

This week in 2020 — a few days into the realization that the COVID-19 pandemic was real — I put out a call for artwork. The idea was that “in these perilous times,” “06880” readers could create — and share — artwork.

“Westport really is an arts community,” I wrote.

It doesn’t matter how old (or young) you are. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a brush, crayon or camera in your life. You don’t have to be an experienced painter, sketcher or collagist. You can work together, or with your family or anyone else you’re self-isolating with

All you need is an idea and a way to express it. Serenity, love, calm, separation, friends, solitude, fear, hope — whatever you’re thinking or feeling, get to work!

Artwork flooded in. It was broad, beautiful and imaginative. The very next day, I posted our very first online gallery. (It was first called “0*6*Art*Art*0.” at Stacie Curran’s suggestion. Click here to see that inaugural post.)

In the early days, I tried to limit the Saturday feature to work specifically created during the crisis, or that showed powerfully some of the effects those days had on everyone.

Soon, I broadened it to art with any theme (or none).

We’ve been going strong ever since. Today, we kick off the 7th year of our online art gallery.

As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in. As they have for 6 years, lovers want to know.

“Open Your Eyes” (Elise Mergenthaler — age 16, One River Art student)

“Mr. Silhouette Snowflake” — mixed media, pastels on paper (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

Photographer Mike Hbbard says: “Beings, far beyond our galaxy, visit Earth regularly to study its life forms. They speculate that the creatures there, calling themselves humans, may go extinct through their own doing — unless they learn that kindness for each other is their only path to survival as a species.”

“Diane Heading Off to Work” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)

“STOP” — acrylic on original metal sign (Jerry Kuyper)

“Congress” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

“Orange Art” — a clementine and watercolor (Steve Stein)

“Child Support” (Lawrence Weisman)

“June and Friend” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (John Maloney)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #308

As usual, our online art gallery features a wide mix of mediums, styles and themes.

And as always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“Hattie” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)

“Frozen River” (Rowene Weems — Available for purchase. click here)

Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)

“Forgotten” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)

“Globalization” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase — click here)

“Bren Playing, Sunshine of Your Love” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)

“Don’t Complain and Don’t Explain” — photo with computer enhancements (Evan Stein)

“Ponytail” (Cohl Katz — Available for purchase; click here)

“Arctic Breath” — acrylic resin on canvas (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (John Maloney)

“Still Life Blueberries” (Miranda Cameron — Grade 8, One River Art student)

Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

“Flipping Out About the Snake in His Clothes!” (Mike Hibbard)

“Dream the Impossible Dream” — pencil and crayon (Steve Stein)

Untitled (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)

“At Ease” (Lawrence Weisman)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #307

Tired of snow? Tired of shoveling? Tired of winter, generally?

We don’t when spring will arrive. But until it does: Sit down. Brew (another) cup of coffee. And enjoy (another) online art gallery.

But you don’t have to just admire our readers’ work. As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“Micha” (Patricia McMahon; Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (Duane Cohen; Available for purchase; click here)

“Bromance” (Mark Yurkiw; Available for purchase; click here)

“Simple and Elegant” —Chapel Altar at First Parish Church UCC, Brunswick, Maine (Bonnie Scott Connolly)

“The Root of the Story” (Conor Culbertson — Grade 8, One River Art student)

Untitled — mixed media collage (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; Click here)

“Color Splash of Water Lilies” (Eric Bosch)

Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

“Lots of Snow” (Karen Weingarten)

Photographer Mike Hibbard says, “This 600-pound snow tiger watches and waits! Deer, scrounging fallen bird feeder seeds, are moving closer and closer …”

“Hello Dali” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here

“Seamstress” (Lawrence Weisman)

“Studying” — pencil and watercolor (Steve Stein)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #306

We always showcase a variety of artists in our Saturday online art gallery.

They always span an impressive spread of mediums, styles and subjects.

But this week’s offers the widest range of ages. We’ve got a first-time submission from a 4th grader — and another first-time offering from a 97-year-old.

Can we ever beat that?

Hey: We can try! As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“Mill Pond Foggy Foggy Night” (Michael Chait — Available for purchase; click here)

“Hey There From Emilia-Romagna, Italy” — digitally painted original photograph (Michael Tomashefsky — Available for purchase; click here)

“Running in the Rain” (Salit Kulla)

“Charleston, SC” (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)

“Bitter End Knots” — Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)

“Flowers Peeking Through the Ice” — 21 x 21 oil and acrylic on aluminum  (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)

“Spring Forward” — acrylic and resin (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

“Gold Wave, $5 an Ounce” — Dutch-pour technique on canvas (Eric Bosch)

“Seeing Spots” (Allison Arth, grade 4, One River Art student)

“Shadows of my Former Self (Officer, Golfer, Pickleballer” — triptych photo (Tom Lowrie, age 97)

Photographer Mike Hibbard says, Earthquake hits Kathmandu City. Millions of pieces in this puzzle. AI can help rebuild the temple.”

“A Type Setter’s Nightmare” — watercolor and pencil (Steve Stein)

“Lion Around” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)

“What’s it All About?” (Lawrence Weisman)

“Allison” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)

“Jan. 6th” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

 

Online Art Gallery #305

Another record!

Nineteen artists are featured in today’s online art gallery.

As always, their works span mediums and themes. And their ages, backgrounds and geographic locations are all over the map too. Most artists live in Westport — but some grew up here, and now live and work around the world.

As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“Echoes of Passion” — digital oil painting (Ken Runkel)

“As We Sometimes See Ourselves” — oil on canvas (Mary Madelyn Attanasio)

“Mia” — 10 x 10 acrylic on canvas (Missy Greenberg)

“Cooper” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah — Available for sale; click here)

“Swimming Upstream” — acrylic and resin (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

“Art Buds” — 30 x 30 acrylic impasto (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase — click here)

“Off the Wall” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)

“SnowFrame” (Jerry Kuyper)

Untitled (Marina Drasnin)

“Ice Image” (Cohl Katz)

“What Path Will You Take in 2026? All A-BOARD! Go For It!” (Mike Hibbard)

“Cuban Tree Frog” (Werner Liepolt — Available for purchase; click here)

“World’s First Immigrant Alien” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)

“Me on the Saxophone” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)

“Hail to the Chief” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)

“Every Dancer Has an Aura!” (Steve Stein)

” Cage Free Soul Intention Seeking Peeps” — Hand-drawn clothing culture construction design art processes (Megan Grace Greenlee)

“Lost in Thought” (Lawrence Weisman)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #304

Some of today’s artists capture winter, in all its frozen, white glory.

Some look ahead, to the bright colors of spring.

Others get their inspiration elsewhere — everywhere from politics to the mirror.

All make up this week’s online art gallery. Take some time on this cold day to wander through it, and admire the many diverse works.

As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“I Love My Snowman” — oil on canvas (Mary Madelyn Attanasio)

“Cold Spell” (Dayle Brownstein)

 “A Winter’s Day” (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

“Friday Frost on our Window” (Copyright Ted Horowitz)

“Footprints” (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)

“Silence on the Saugatuck 1” (Tom Kretsch — Available for purchase; click here)

“Yawn” (Jerry Kuyper)

“Beached” — Dead sea fans on a pure white sand beach in the British Virgin Islands (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)

“Thinking of Spring” — impasto acrylic (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)

“Bluejay and Bluebird” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)

“La Vie en Rose” — acrylic on canvas (Melissa Benedek — Available for purchase; click here

“Shadows Visions Memories, Escape” (Tom Doran; Available for purchase; click here)

“Yearning to Breathe Free” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)

“Customized Bookmarks” — paint pens on paper (Will Luedke)

“You’ve a frog in your throat? I got a snake in mine!” (Mike Hibbard)

“These Days There is Always an Elephant in the Room” (Steve Stein)

Untitled (Lawrence Weisman)

“Self-Portrait 2026: Happiness is a Feeling, Not a Destination” (Bill Fellah)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Online Art Gallery #303

As the snow flew last weekend — and many Westporters lit fires, sipped coffee and hunkered down — our artists and photographers went to work.

They gathered their brushes, picked up their cameras, and created even more beauty and wonder out of all that lay around.

And while many of us grappled with the horrific news from the day before in Minnesota, some channeled their emotions into their work.

Today’s online gallery begins with nature, makes a brief stop for Valentine’s Day, and ends with humanity.

As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.

Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside!” (Pat Saunders)

“A Long Winter’s View” (Cohl Katz — Available for sale; click here)

“Tired of Snow Yet?” (Copyright Ted Horowitz)

Untitled (Jerry Kuyper)

“Aurora Borealis” — digital illustration (Ken Runkel)

“Frigid Cold Water’s Edge”– impasto crafted with lace for the clouds; acrylic landscape on canvas (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for sale; click here)

“Burnt Sienna” — acrylic and resin on 24 x 36 canvas (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)

 

“Blue & Orange Color Splash” — acrylic on plastered wood panel (Eric Bosch)

Untitled — mixed media collage (June Rose Whittaker — Available for sale; click here)

“Landscape, Possibly” — digital (Tom Doran; Available for purchase; click here)

Untitled — collage made from all the “love” words in Westport Lifestyle magazine’s February issue (Frannie Faith Southworth)

“Angel Valentine Tree” (Lauri Wieser)

“Peaceful Panoramas” — acrylic (Ari Shervinrad — 2nd grade, One River Art student)

“Beneath the Rush” — under the I-95 Saugatuck River bridge (Nancy Breakstone; Available for purchase; click here)

Photographer Mike Hibbard says, “A blissful watering hole? No! It’s a hundred hippos farting non-stop. Do not light a match downwind of these beasts.”

“It’s Never Too Late to Get a COVID Shot!” — watercolor (Steve Stein)

“Boo Hoo” (Lawrence Weisman)

“Passport on I.C.E.” — sculpture (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)

“Enough is Enough” (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)

(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)

Mark Yurkiw: Buy A Sculpture; Support Ukraine

In the nearly 4 years since Russia’s invasion, Mark Yurkiw has worked to help Ukraine.

The Westport artist — whose parents emigrated to the US from there in 1949, and whose first language was Ukrainian — has raised funds; collected medical equipment, generators, tools, other supplies, clothes and toys, and kept the country’s plight front and center.

His newest project is ambitious. And artistic.

A well-known Taiwanese artist wants to help. He understands that Taiwan may be the next Ukraine.

Chuang Chih Hui, whose work is exhibited around the world, donated his $15,000 “Winged” sculpture to help fund shipping a 40-foot container of medical equipment to Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The sculpture will go to the first person to donate $7,500, to cover the cost the shipment.

“Winged” (center), and Chuang Chih Hui’s other works.

“Winged” is on display through January 15 at the Senior Center. After that date, it can be seen by appointment; text 646-873-0050.

Yurkiw hopes to fund a second container of medical equipment too. For that, he is looking for additional donors, of any amount. “Every $10 saves a life,” Yurkiw says.

There’s an incentive to donate. Chuang Chih Hui has 2 other sculptures — “Symbiosis” and “Cycle” — worth $16,000 and $10,000 respectively. Both are shown above.

Yurkiw says, “If we raise enough with small donations to pay the artist full price, I will raffle off one or both. I’m certain he would donate back at least 1/3 of what we collect.”

To purchase “Winged,” or donate a smaller amount for a second shipping container and the raffle, email mark.think3d@gmail.com.

Chuang Chih Hui

Roundup: Helping Jamaica, Ukraine, Homes With Hope, Pink Aid …

Weston reggae musician Mystic Bowie has strong roots in Jamaica. There’s a Mystic Bowie Cultural Center in Accompong Town.

But after Hurricane Melissa, nearly every home and school must be rebuilt. Families are in urgent need of safety, shelter and support.

Bowie is doing what he can to help. And he wants everyone here to join the effort.

On November 29 his Talking Dreads band take the stage at the Fairfield Theater Company’s Warehouse.

Tickets are $100, $50 and $35. All proceeds support the Mystic Bowie Cultural Center’s Jamaica Relief efforts in Accompong Town. Click here to purchase or donate, and for more information.

Special musical guests will be announced soon. Bowie says, “feel the rhythm, share the love, and stand with us in solidarity as we help bring hope back to the heart of Jamaica.”

Mystic Bowie

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Jamaica is not the only place with desperate need.

Mark Yurkiw — who has spent the past 3 years raising funds and providing material help to Ukraine, where he has strong roots.

Mark says, “each night hundreds of Russian drones descend, damaging homes, schools and hospitals and across the country. All the wiring in these buildings needs to be reconnected and made safe.

“They are in desperate need of power cords, extension cords, electrical wires, etc.

“I hope ‘06880’ readers who have wires, of any sort or size or length, can drop them at my garage doors (190 Cross Highway).

“They don’t need to work, and they don’t need connectors at the end. (Ukraine uses different connectors.)

“Any tools used to work with electricity are extremely helpful too: pliers, wire cutters, testers, electrical tape, etc. Donations for shipping are also welcome. Slava Ukraini!”

Questions? Email mark.think3d@gmail.com.

Mark Yurkiw, at his garage with Ukrainian art he created.

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There is need in Westport too.

The (thunderous and well-deserved) applause had scarcely died down after Staples Players’ (sensational) opening night performance of “Les Misérables,” when parent volunteers loaded up the first delivery of non-perishable food and personal hygiene items to Homes with Hope.

Audiences are filling bags for the Westport’s homeless shelter and food pantry. Stew Leonard’s helped, donating 1,000 reusable shopping bags for HwH.

Collections will continue at today’s 2:30 p.m. matinee, and next weekend’s 5 shows. Click here for tickets, and more information.

Staples Players’ audience donations, headed to Homes with Hope. (Photo/Kerry Long)

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Speaking of Staples: The field hockey’s team quest to three-peat as state champions came to a tough end yesterday.

Longtime archrival Darien eked out a 1-0 victory, in the state class “L” (large schools) final at Wethersfield High School. It was the Wreckers’ only shutout of the year.

The Blue Wave also barely beat Staples in the FCIAC (league) championship. That game was even closer: 2-1 on penalty strokes, after the teams were tied through 2 overtimes.

In other Wrecker sports news, the boys soccer team meets their own rival, Greenwich, in the “LL” (extra large schools) championship today (Sunday).

Kickoff is 3:30 p.m., at Hartford’s Trinity Health Stadium. Click here for the livestream.

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Speaking still of Staples: What began years ago as a simple request to help raise funds to fight breast cancer has grown into a very important annual “Get Your Pink On” campaign.

Recently, the school’s field hockey team, Gridiron Club, Pyramid Club, Boys Soccer Foundation, Pink Aid Club, and their fans raised funds for the cause.

The initiative began with Tammy Zelkowitz. The mother of a Staples football player was inspired by national sports teams promoting breast cancer awareness each October. If they could do it, she thought, so could Staples.

Pink Aid, which began as a local nonprofit, has since grown into a national organization providing emergency financial assistance and emotional support to underserved and underinsured women battling breast cancer.

Since launching the campaign in 2011, Staples has donated $95,000 to Pink Aid. Congratulations to all who have shown the power of compassion, collaboration and student action.

Staples’ Pyramid Club, Gridiron Club and captains present a $3,112 check to Pink Aid.

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The news that Bloodroot — the women’s collective vegetarian restaurant/ feminist community center, co-founded by Westporter Selma Miriam — is closing after 48 years in Black Rock has saddened its many devoted fans.

They can gather, reminisce — and learn a lot — on December 2 (6 p.m.). MoCA\CT will screen “A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot.” The 97- minute documentary was released earlier this year.

The showing will be followed by a Q&A with Bloodroot co-founder Noel Furie, and documentary director Annie Laurie Medonis.

The film is presented in conjunction with the current exhibition, “Enough Already: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection.”

In addition, there’s a book signing of Emily Larned’s “40 Years of Bloodroot.” It includes personal-political essays by Miriam and Furie, and photographs.

The event is part of MoCA’s continuing exploration of feminist voices in art, culture and community through Enough Already. Tickets are $10; $8 for seniors and students; free for members. Click here to register, and for more information.

Noel Furie and Selma Miriam: through the years.

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Speaking of food places: Gofer has closed.

The shop featuring “premium hard and soft serve ice cream, plant-based and fat-free options, smoothies, cakes and more” replaced Silver Ribbon, in the strip mall with Fortuna’s and Greens Farms Spirit Shop, in 2022.

The website still lists Westport, along with Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Riverside, Stamford and Wilton.

Gofer was a few hundred yards from another ice cream outlet, here much longer. They’ve severed ties with Carvel, but continue to do business with a generic “Soft Serve” sign.

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Work is proceeding on the Sherwood Mill Pond tidal gates renovation project.

There’s plenty of equipment in and around the area.

(Photo/Matt Murray)

The staging area — for those who wonder what’s going on there — is the Compo Beach Soundview Avenue parking lot.

Completion is expected by Memorial Day.

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Over 50 volunteers showed up, for Wreathing for Community’s recent project.

They created 60 beautiful wreaths. Fifty apartments at Norwalk’s Open Doors Shelter are now hung with the handsome creations. Ten more are spread throughout the community center.

Faith Sargent — who organized the event — thanks all the wreath-makers, as well as the dozens of people who donated florals, wreath bases, ribbon and tools.

Many donated food, which also helps sustain Open Doors residents during the holiday season.

To learn more about Wreathing for Community, email faithasargent@gmail.com.

Some of the many wreath-makers, with their creations.

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The curtain rises this week for Coleytown Middle School’s musical.

“Dare to Dream Jr.” is an hour-long, fun-filled show — perfect for kids of all ages. Shows are 6 p.m. Thursday (November 20) and 7 p.m. Friday (November 21). Click here for tickets.

The cast of Coleytown Middle School’s “Dare to Dream Jr.”

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This is a long fall.

And we’re loving every day of it.

Today’s leaves-are-still-hanging-on “Westport Naturally” comes from Timber Lane.

But it could be many other places around town.

We are very lucky indeed.

(Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)

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And finally … in honor of Coleytown Middle School’s “Dare to Dream” show (story above):

(Here’s “06880”‘s dream: That everyone who enjoys our hyper-local blog — and has the means to — chips in by clicking here to support our work. Hey, a boy can dream …)