Tag Archives: One River Art + Design

1st Selectman Kevin Christie says: Westport will soon complete its state-mandated property revaluation. Connecticut law requires all municipalities to conduct a revaluation every 5 years.

Property owners will receive updated assessment notices by mail on or about December 8. They reflect assessed values as of October 1, based on field reviews and sales analysis completed by the Assessor’s Office and Vision Government Solutions. Assessed value is 70% of fair market value.

Residential values have risen sharply since the October 2020 revaluation. Estimates indicate an average increase of about 61% for residential properties, and about 17% for commercial properties. Individual assessments will vary.

A higher assessment does not mean your taxes will rise by the same amount.

A change in your assessment is only part of how property taxes are calculated. When the overall Grand List increases, the mill rate typically decreases (all else being equal). Any change to your tax bill will depend on how your new assessment compares to others in town, and on the Town’s approved budget in spring 2026.

Updated property data and values will be available online once notices are sent.

Property owners who believe information about their property is incorrect, or who would like to discuss their valuation, can request an appointment with Vision later in December.

Appeal applications to the Board of Assessment Appeals will be available after the Grand List is signed. They must be filed by February 20, 2026.

For more information about the revaluation, click here. 

To speak with a member of the Assessor’s Office, call 203-341-1070.

Revaluation assessment notices for Westport properties — including this one, on Beachside Avenue — will be mailed today.

==================================================

Main Street may soon have a new casual dining space.

159 Main Street — occupied most recently by a deli with that name; before that,  Rye Ridge and, most famously for decades, Oscar’s — will be the site of Luya.

Westport Journal reported today that the family spot — with smoothies, along with healthy and diner food — is the third project for Ciara Webster, Patrick Jean and Zoli Kovacs.

They are the owner, general manager and chef of Nômade, across the street from Luya.

The trio are also partners in Anan. The French-Vietnamese restaurant — on the site of the former 190 Main — also hopes for a spring opening.

Click here for the full Westport Journal story.

Long-time Westporters remember 159 Main Street as Oscar’s Deli. (Photo/Andrew Colabella)

================================================

On Wednesday, Playbill posted a long, intriguing story about the 6 actors who play the lead role every night in “Masquerade,” the innovative, immersive staging of “Phantom of the Opera.”

One of the six — Staples High School graduate Clay Singer — is one of the youngest to play the Phantom ever, anywhere.

His insights into his character — how he prepared for it, how he plays it — are well worth reading.

But the piece is notable for something else: homages by the actors to Kevin Gray. Broadway’s first-ever Asian American Phantom in 1990 has the same roots as Singer. Gray graduated from Staples in 1976. Both Westport Phantoms were Staples Players stars.

Gray died of a heart attack, at just 55 years old, in 2013 — just 4 months before Singer graduated from Staples.

Click here to read the full Playbill story. (Hat tip: Dodie Pettit)

Clay Singer (left) and Kevin Gray: Phantoms of the Opera.

==================================================

Westport art teachers are superb educators. From elementary through middle and high school they instruct, encourage and inspire students to express themselves creatively and fully.

But those teachers are superb artists themselves.

Now through January 3rd, they’ve got a showcase for their own work.

One River School’s Westport Art Teacher Exhibition provides a special opportunity to see the personal and professional sides — and the wide range of mediums and styles — of Mark Derosa, Cecily Cowburn Anderson, Stephanie Sileo, Angela Simpson, Paula Morgan, Timothy Soper and Danilo Sierra-Giraldo.

A reception is set for December 18 (5 to 7 p.m., 833 Post Road East). The public — including students — are invited to check out this other perspective on Westport’s art teachers.

Part of the Westport Art Teacher Exhibition, at One River Gallery.

==================================================

Speaking of art: The Artists Collective of Westport’s 12×12 Holiday Exhibit runs December 17 -21, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Westport Country Playhouse barn. The opening reception (December 16, 6 to 8 p.m.) features food, beverages, and music by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Mark Naftalin (Paul Butterfield Blues Band).

All works are 12×12. And all are for sale, just in time for the holidays.

================================================

We’re just one day away from the Westport Downtown Association/”06880″ Holiday Stroll.

And merchants keep signing up for giveaways and promotions.

The latest is Chocolatieree. The Church Lane shop offers “blissfully toasted and gooey s’moresticks,” with every purchase of at least $20.

That — and 60 other specials — are part of tomorrow’s (Saturday) Stroll. Some are available only during the Stroll itself (4 to 7 p.m.); others run all day. Click here, then scroll down for the full list.

Among the attractions at the 5th annual Holiday Stroll: caroling with the Staples Orphenians, selfies with Santa and Westport’s favorite piglet, thanks to Riverside Realty Group (plus the brand-new downtown clock), face painting, a DJ, a “letters to Santa” mailbox, and much more.

The Staples Orphenians are a Holiday Stroll favorite. (Photo/Dan Woog)

See you at the Stroll!

================================================

As the weather gets cold, Earthplace heats up. On tap this month:

Winged Wonders (Sunday, December 7, 1 to 1:30 p.m.; free with admission): Experience birds of prey outside their enclosures, in a bird-on-glove demonstration.

Kids’ Night Out (December 12, 6 to 9 p.m., ages 4-13; $50 members, $60 non-members): A nature-themed evening, including a winter-themed movie, popcorn, and a special treat from Bartaco

Winter Solstice Campfire (December 21, 1 to 2:30 p.m.; member families $25, non-member families $35): Celebrate the days getting longer with s’mores, a craft project, and a roaring fire.

Also: Drop-off programs — with immersive, nature-based experiences — begin January 6:

• Free-Range Homeschoolers (Wednesdays, 1 to 3p.m., ages 4-11)
• Lil’ Naturalists (Wednesdays, 4 to 5 p.m., grades K-2)
• Nature Art Club (Thursdays, 4 to 5 p.m.,. grades 3-6)
• Junior Staff (Fridays, 4 to 5 p.m., grades 6-12_
• Animal Care Crew (Tuesdays, 4 to 5 p.m., grades 6-12).

Click here for more information, and registration.

Fun for all ages at Earthplace.

==================================================

Speaking of Earthplace: They just received a $162,600, from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund.

The grant will help provide watershed science programs for high school and college students. The total amount of the project $243,900. (Hat tip: Peter Gold)

==================================================

Plenty of great lights-Santas-and-more displays enliven lawns, porches and windows, all around Westport.

But only one (that we know of) is synched to a radio station, playing (of course) holiday music.

It’s on Fairport Road, off Bulkley Avenue North. Ho ho ho!

Fairport Road display (and music). (Photo and hat tip/Lily Tofel)

==================================================

Staples High School’s November Students of the Month are seniors Jennifer Londono and Avery Michalowski, Jaicelynn Denny and Elias Ramos, sophomores Lucy Bughman and Noa Katz, and freshmen Max Landau and Blake Serotta.

Students of the Month are “the ‘glue’ of the Staples community: kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students (who make it) the special place it is.” Nominations are made by teachers.

From left: Blake Serotta, Avery Michalowski, Jaicelynn Denny, Lucy Bughman, Noa Katz, Elias Ramos.

==================================================

Westport resident Julie Parillo died in her sleep yesterday. She was 65 years old.

A 1978 graduate of CVA in Norwalk, Julie began her career at Deluxe Check Printers in Norwalk before moving to New Jersey, where she worked for One Call Medical.

Julie loved all creatures, especially her dogs Reba and Brandy. She was a kind and gentle soul who treasured time spent with her family and with her best friend, Teresa Smith.

She is survived by her mother Arlyne, brother Peter (Dana) Parillo, niece Jessica, nephew Dan, close cousin Pamela Mahon, and several other cousins. Her best friend was Teresa Smith. She was predeceased by her brother, Michael Parillo.

A funeral is set for December 9 (10 a.m., Harding Funeral Home). Interment will follow at Willowbrook Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Connecticut Humane Society, 701 Russell Road, Newington, CT 06111.

Julie Parillo

===========================================

Every full moon draws “06880” photographers.

It’s tough to choose. But this shot by Rick Benson — overlooking Old Mill Beach, at very low tide  — works especially well for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Rick Benson)

==================================================

And finally … Steve Cropper — who the New York Times calls “the prodigious guitarist, songwriter and producer who played a pivotal role in shaping the lean gutbucket soul music made at Memphis’s Stax Records in the 1960s and ’70s,” died Wednesday in Nashville. He was 84.

Casual music fans may not have known his name. But nearly everyone knows his work: the “snarling Fender Telecaster lick” on Booker T & the MGs’ “Green Onions”; the “ringing guitar figure” that opened Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” and the “bell-toned guitar work” on Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (which he co-wrote). He later worked with the Blues Brothers.

In 2015 he was ranked 39th on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 1996, Mojo had him second — behind only Jimi Hendrix.

The Times notes, “the original MG’s lineup, with both Black and white members (Mr. Cropper was white), helped integrate Stax at a time when the four men would not have been permitted to appear on a public bandstand together in the segregated South.” Click here for the full Times obituary.)

Staples High School graduate Roger Kaufman — a musician and events producer with Old School Music — knew Cropper. Kaufman urged him to donate the guitar he played on “Dock of the Bay” to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

On December 1, 2016 — almost exactly 9 years ago — there was a special ceremony there. In attendance were Booker T. Jones, Sam Moore, Eddie Floyd, and members of the Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas and Isaac Hayes families. Cropper and his band played many of their greatest hits. 

Then the guitar went on display — right next to Judy Garland’s “Wizard of Oz” slippers.