And the envelopes, please …
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce has stopped eating, and counted over 1,000 votes. The winners of their Great Burger Contest are:
- Best Classic Burger – Shake Shack
- Best Cheeseburger – Viva Zapata
- Best Gourmet Burger – Nômade
- Best Veggie Burger – The Black Duck
- Best Non-Beef Burger – Match Burger Lobster
- Best Slider Burger – The Black Duck
Two winners repeated from the first burger competition in 2019. Viva Zapata and Match Burger Lobster both won again, but this year in different categories.
Next year, the Chamber sponsors the Great Westport Soup Contest. The prior one (2020) was suspended due to Covid.
Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce director Matthew Mandell congratulates (clockwise from top): Shake Shack, Match Burger Lobster, Nômade, Black Duck and Viva Zapata.
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It was the Spin Doctors’ turn to rock VersoFest last night.
(Photo/Dick Wingate)
The long-running alt band did not disappoint the sold out Westport Library crowd.
(Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)
The 5-day music/media/and more event wraps up this weekend. Today’s highlights include a conversation between Doors drummer John Densmore and CNN’s Alisyn Camerota; a session with WFUV’s Paul Cavalconte, and a workshop called “Pitch Your Podcast.”
Click here for a full schedule of today’s and tomorrow’s VersoFest.
(Photo/Matthew Mandell)
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On Thursday night, Rizzuto’s swarmed with cops.
And everyone was happy.
Over a dozen of Westport’s finest joined the restaurant’s wait staff (off duty, of course). They served, poured drinks — and encouraged customers to leave extra tips.
Patrons obeyed. When the night was over, they’d raised over $4,000 for Special Olympics Connecticut.
Which just proves: We have the best police force, restaurants and diners around!
From left: Det. Erin Shaw, Sgt. Richard Bagley, Officer Melissa Bike, Lt. Eric Woods, Sgt. Sharon Russo, Officer Greg Gunter, Lt. Sereniti Dobson, Cpl. Brendan Fearon, Cpl. Rachel Hall, Officer Ryan Kardamis, Sgt. Dan Paz. Other WPD “waiters” are not pictured.
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The agenda for the Board of Selectwomen’s Wednesday meeting (April 10, 9 a.m., Town Hall auditorium) is filled with the usual: acceptance of gifts, approval of contracts, actions taken as the Water Pollution Control Authority.
But there’s also this: updating the “Parks & Recreation Department rules and regulations to include: “Recreational facilities located on Board of Education grounds are not accessible to those who are not students, staff or invited guests between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on school days.”
The vote follows the unanimous approval of the new regulation last week, by the Parks & Recreation Commission.
Board of Selectwomen (from left): Andrea Moore, Jen Tooker, Candice Savin.
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Yesterday’s “Friday Flashback” featured a postcard of “The Five Little Pigs.” It was (presumably) a restaurant that no one in Westport seemed to recall.
Both Peter Gold and Neil Brickley sleuthed out the back side of the postcard, on eBay.
Here’s what it showed:
Yum!
Meanwhile, Jack Whittle searched through the 1931 Westport Directory. He found “5 Little Pigs Tea Room (Mrs. Lillian Hawley) E State n Colonial Rd GF.”
A Sanborn Map confirmed it was right where The Flower Basket is today (next to Stiles Market) — exactly where I guessed it might be, based on the shape of the buildings.
Mystery solved. Too bad we can’t go back in time, and taste some of “the only place in the east where this delicious BARBECUE” is served.
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In 2018, Connecticut restricted the use of insecticides called neonicotinoids (“neonics”). This class of chemicals is very harmful to pollinators. They include midacloprid, cothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid and dinotefuran.
On Household Hazardous Waste Day (April 13, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Greens Farms railroad station parking lot), residents can safely dispose of any neonicotinoids containing insecticides.
Click here for a full list of products containing these chemicals.
Bring this stuff next Saturday, on Household Hazardous Waste Day.
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Last month, Faith Sargent started The Whimsical Redhead. She makes wreaths, swags, centerpieces, garlands, showroom tree decorating, etc).
She’ll also teach wreath-making classes. The first is May 1.
Faith would like to start crafting items like wreaths, centerpieces and wall hangings to donate to fundraisers like silent auctions for schools and non-profits.
She hopes that “06880” readers with faux florals, nice wired ribbon, fake wreaths that need refreshing, lightweight planters, baskets, wooden candle holders or other items that would work as centerpieces (and are too nice to toss out) will give them to her, to “recycle.”
They would not be resold; they’re all for donations to charitable functions.
If you’ve got items, please send photos to whimsicalredheadcrafts@gmail.com. And if you’ve got a fundraiser and would like an item from Faith, use that email too.
A Faith Sargent creation.
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Staples High School’s April Students of the Month are seniors David Nivia and Caroline Roschen, juniors Kate Banks and Noah Wolff, sophomore Mia Moore and freshman Sadie McEntee.
Students of the month “help make Staples a welcoming place for their peers and teachers alike. They are the ‘glue’ of the Staples community — the type of kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students that keep the high school together, making it the special place that it is.”
“Students of the month are nominated by their teachers, who are asked to think of those students who come to school regularly, are friendly to the staff and to fellow students, and make positive contributions in class as well as the Staples community. In short, these students are all-around good citizens of our school.”
Staples’ April Students of the Month. From left: Noah Wolff, Kate Banks, David Nivia, Mia Moore, Caroline Roschen, Sadie McEntee.
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“Footloose” — Coleytown Company’s spring production — is not just another “middle school show.”
With high-quality sets, costumes, lighting — and of course choreography and acting — it’s a full-scale musical. Performances are set for 1 and 7 p.m. today (Saturday), and 1 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday). Click here for tickets.
(Photos/Ariane Trimichat)
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The next Westport Country Playhouse Script in Hand play reading is “Tenderness and Gratitude Number Four” (Monday, April 15, 7 p.m.).
The new comedy features Mary Testa — 3-time Tony nominee for “On the Town,” “42nd Street,” and “Oklahoma!,” and Robert Sella (“Flying Over Sunset,” “Sylvia,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”).
The play is about a party boy who avoids intimacy at all costs. and a jaded, wise-cracking office worker who still harbors dreams of becoming an artist. When the two strike up an unlikely friendship at work, they are forced to learn what it means to open up to someone else, and how to take a long, hard, messy look at oneself in the mirror.
Tickets are $30. For tickets and more details, click here.
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In the wake of yesterday’s earthquake, Bob Weingarten writes:
“While in Japan, we were provided with this Earthquake Kit by our employer (IBM). It contains a first aid kit, radio, flashlight, batteries, crackers, blanket, etc. We still have it in our basement here.”
(Photo/Bob Weingarten)
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Longtime Westport resident Tom Seligson died yesterday at his home in Deep River, with his wife Susan and daughter Justine at his side. He was 78.
His family moved from New York’s Upper West Side to the Old Hill section of Westport in the early 1950s. He attended Westport schools through 9th grade, then went to Phillips Academy–Andover. He ran cross country and excelled at other sports, as well as academically. He served as the Class of 1964 secretary for 15 years following graduation.
Tom graduated from Columbia University with a BA in political science in 1968.
After many years in Manhattan, Tom moved back to Westport. He and his family lived at Compo Beach for 23 years.
He wrote 6 books (fiction and non-fiction), one of which became the foundation for a major movie and its sequels. As an executive producer at CBS News, he produced hundreds of shows, winning 3 Emmy Awards. He was also a print journalist, with bylines in major magazines.
Whenever Tom was asked what he did, he talked about a young man on death row for whom he advocated. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of his life.
Tom scuba dove around the world, climbed mountains from the Dolomites to the Andes, and rode wild mustangs in Wyoming. He enjoyed tennis, cycling, skiing, hiking, and tookk up boxing to counter the effects of Parkinson’s disease.
He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Susan; daughter Justine of London; sister Dr. Jane Sillman (Dr. Fred Sillman) of Cambridge, Massachusetts; twin brother Dr. Robert Seligson of Manhattan; nephew Eric Sillman Dr. Rebecca Johansson Locke) of Brookline, Massachusetts; niece, Kathy Sillman (Ray Lewis) of Newton, Massachusetts; nieces, nephews, and many friends and colleagues.
Details for a celebration of Tom’s life will take place on a date to be announced.
Tom Seligson
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Spring is ready to, well, spring, in today’s “Westport … Naturally” view of Grace Salmon Park.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … in honor of yesterday’s big geological news:
(Life is unpredictable, as we learned yesterday. But you can always rely on “06880.” We rely, meanwhile, on readers’ support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Many of the sites in “Soundview” are easily recognized. The story opens with a murder in a place much like 
Organizers call it “the only youth film festival in the world run for high school students, by high school students.”
