Posted onMay 28, 2024|Comments Off on Roundup: Float Winners, Baseball Winners, Scholarship Winners …
Wrapping up yesterday’s great — and weather-dodged — Memorial Day parade:
For the first time since the Spanish-American War, the Y’s Men of Westport and Weston did not win the “Best Float” award.
There’s a good reason: They were concerned that rain might damage their power connections.
Congratulations to the VFW: the new winner of the “Best Float” competition.
Other winners were:
Best Youth Group: Westport Little League
Best Community Organization: Staples High School and Bedford/Coleytown Middle School Marching Bands (tie)
Most Colorful Float: Westport Garden Club.
Congratulations to all!
The winning float. (Photo courtesy of Patty Kondub)
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Our Memorial Day parade is timeless.
Don’t believe me? Check out this video, sent by Mark Comden.
From 1960.
PS: He’s one of the little kids shown in the home movie.
Sure, a few things have changed. The real estate office is gone from the Riverside Avenue/Post Road West corner.
The fire truck that looked so modern in the last year of the Eisenhower administration might have been one of the “vintage” vehicles in yesterday’s parade.
But so much else is so familiar.
And probably will be 64 years from now, at the 2088 parade.
The Staples High School baseball team are winners on and off the field.
On Sunday, members spent a rare day off buddying with the Westport Winners program.
They were supporting youngsters with disabilities, as they played against (and partied with) the Fairfield Red Storm.
From left: Staples classmates Max Jossen, Harrison Putman and Mikey Linn.
Wrecker head coach Jack McFarland was there too.
It was a grand slam, for sure.
From left: Longtime buddy/player pair Connor Brill and Henry Cashen.
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Want to keep the Saugatuck River beautiful?
Everyone is welcome to join the Saugatuck Church community this Sunday (June 2, 12:30 p.m.), on a clean-up mission.
The meeting place is Riverside Park (427 Riverside Avenue).
The clean-up involves wading in the river. Bring a reusable water bottle, gloves, long sleeves, pants and close-toed shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. Sunscreen and bug spray are recommended.
The Westport Police Benevolent Association Scholarship Foundation has awarded grants to 22 students attending college this fall.
Wilbur Scholarship applicants must be children of Westport Police Department officers, who have done community service and have a GPA of at least 3.0.
Recipients are Zoe Koskinas, Samuel and Jonathan Wolf, Madison and Gabrielle Hayes, Brandon Smith, Ava Wooldridge, Olivia and Grace Biagiotti, Sara Sabin, Samantha and Joseph Sabin, Meghan Velky, Jaden Aliberti, Emma and Jacqueline Kelley, Alexis Broderick, April and Edward Nowinski, and Zachary Benson.
The Foundation also awards Deputy Chief John Anastasia and Chief Bill Stefan Scholarships to Staples seniors who enter college in the fall to study law or a law enforcement-related field. The scholarships recognize both community relations and athletic accomplishments.
This year’s honorees are Kervin Joseph and and Juan Nieves, Jr.
The WPBA Scholarship Foundation thanks founders and principal donors Joan Poster and the late Dennis Poster.
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Staples High School’s Project Sunshine Club is part of a national organization that sends trained volunteers to visit children in hospitals nationwide and in Canada, Kenya and Israel.
The students are under 18, so they cannot volunteer themselves. Instead, the Staples club packs activity kits for children with medical challenges.
The 30 members plan a fundraiser that will appeal to many young people: a spikeball tournament. It’s set for June 15 at the Staples High School football field (noon).
Teams of 2 people can register, for just $20. There’s a $500 first prize.
All are welcome. Those who can’t attend (or are not spikeball players) are welcome to donate. Click here for the link to register and/or contribute.
PS: Staples’ Sunshine Club founder Max Saperstein has also helped start 17 similar clubs in high schools around the country. For information on how to start a Sunshine Club, email maxsaperstein@icloud.com.
An intriguing show comes to Toquet Hall on June 7 (7 p.m.).
“Jackson Crash” is the creation of Jonathan Riedel. The artistic director of Riedel Dance Theater, and lead singer/songwriter of Rubber Skulls, embodies with pathos and irreverent humor a young man’s journey from bullying and parental neglect to discovering his queerness, starting a family, becoming a truck driver, and searching for his own identity -0 all while being chased by a ghost from his past.
After the 90-minute performance and refreshments, Riedel and 2 other creators the show will talk about the writing and development of the story, and how it relates to the audience’s lives.
The event is sponsored by Westport Pride. Click here for tickets, and more information.
This week’s Jazz at the Post headliners are Harvie S. — a widely recorded bassist — and James Weidman, first call pianist for big names. They’re joined by fiery drummer Malik Washington and saxophonist Greg “The Jazz Rabbi” Wall.
Shows are Thursday, May 30, at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m., at VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399. Dinner service begins at 7. The music cover is $20; $15 for veterans and students.
Reservations are highly recommended: JazzatthePost@gmail.com.
And finally … happy 79th birthday to John Fogerty. I’ve played tribute to his band — Creedence Clearwater Revival — and I will again. So today I’ll honor his solo work. (PS: Thanks again for that great Levitt Pavilion concert in 2017. I’m still smiling.)
Comments Off on Roundup: Float Winners, Baseball Winners, Scholarship Winners …
Igor Pikayzen — Westport’s favorite home-grown violinist — kicks off this year’s Suzuki Music School’s Pillow Concert Series (October 1, 246 Post Road East, lower level; bring a pillow to sit on).
All 5 performances features superb local artists.
The 2005 Staples High School graduate went to Juilliard, then earned a master’s degree and artist’s diploma from Yale University and a doctor of musical arts at the CUNY Graduate Center.
s.
He’s appeared as a soloist with major orchestras across 4 continents. He has played Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Le Teatro Sant-Cugat in Barcelona and Cadogan Hall in London; his live performances and recordings have been broadcast on WQXR, and around the globe. He’s won numerous competitions too.
Families and students attend free. as part of Suzuki’s community outreach programs. The goal of the series is for student musicians to hear exceptionally accomplished musicians. For more information, click here.
Speaking of music: There was a nearly full house yesterday at Saugatuck Congregational Church. Full house at Saugatuck Congregational Church.
Alex Beyer — winner of the Queen Elizabeth, US Chopin and Dublin International Piano Competitions, now a US Navy pilot stationed in Norfolk — performed works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bartok and Prokofiev.
A Q-and-A session, and masterclass with young musicians, followed the concert.
Alex Beyer performs at Saugatuck Church. (Photo/Mark Mathias)
Westport’s drive to raise $250,000 for our new sister city in Lyman, Ukraine now has a logo.
Miggs Burroughs — the native Westporter/graphic artist/creator of lenticular exhibits at the downtown and train station pedestrian tunnels/designer of the Westport town flag/Westport Artists’ Collective co-founder — has once again donated his talents for a great cause.
His design — in Ukraine’s famous blue and yellow colors — shows Lyman nestled under the bridge being built by both Westport and Marigny-le-Louzon, the French town we adopted after World War II, and helped rebuild. They’re joining us now, to aid another devastated place.
Our goal is to raise $250,000 — by Christmas. That would provide materials to build 150 homes, with a generator for every one, plus a water filtration system for the Donetsk region town. Thanks to our partner on the ground, it can all be delivered within 3 days.
As of last night — 2 days after announcing our drive — we had over $85,000. Just $165,000 left to raise!
To help, click here. Click the “I want to support” box; then select “Support for the City of Lyman.” Scroll down on that page for other donation options (mail, wire transfer and Venmo.) You can also donate directly, via Stripe (click here).
Ukraine Aid International is a non-profit organization. It was co-founded by Westporters Brian and Marshall Mayer. Click here for more information on our sister city, Lyman.
Tonight, Saugatuck Congregational Church unveils a big gift for the community.
That’s not an exaggeration. It’s a giant video Christmas card.
From 5 to 8 p.m. today (Wednesday), Craig Patton and Mark Mathias — creators of the “card,” and leaders of the church’s audio-visual team — will be on the Great Lawn on the Post Road near Myrtle Avenue, projecting a video greeting on the front of the building. It will be augmented by an audio broadcast on 89.3 FM.
Look for the enormous holiday card on the front of the Saugatuck Church as you drive by. Better yet, stop and share some holiday cheer with Craig and Mark.
If the weather allows, the greeting card will be presented again tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday, also from 5 to 8 p.m.
On Sunday, Westport Troop 100 held an Eagle Court of Honor at VFW Post 399. They presented Eagle Scout awards, and celebrated the outstanding achievement of 4 Scouts:
2021 Staples High School graduate PJ Shaum, who coordinated a musical instruments drive for Bridgeport Schools’ Music program.
Purdue Polytechnic University freshman Maxim Zotkin Williams, who created an outdoor picnic area for St. Mary’s Holy Assumption Church in Stamford.
Staples High School senior and fencing team captain Gleb Syomichev, who helped clean and repaint the parking lot at VFW Post 399.
Staples High senior and fencing team member Jack Martens, who helped to clean up and paint the kitchen at VFW Post 399.
Troop 100 has a 54-year history in Westport — and, now, 90 Eagle Scouts. Congratulations to all!
Troop 100 Eagle Scouts, clockwise from top left: PJ Shaum, Maxim Zotkin Williams, Jack Martens, Gleb Syomichev,
Staples High School Class of 2013 graduate Shira Helena Gitlin is directing a new production of “Indecent,” by Massachusetts’ Concord Players.
Shira was involved with another Players group — the Staples ones — on the tech side, in high school. They also sang with the Orphenians. Shira is now building a career as a theater maker, in the Boston area.
Click here for a video about “Indecent.” They talk about its relevance today, beginning at 5:01.
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