The latest Westport institution to reopen is Wakeman Town Farm.
They’re doing it slowly. First they offer private farm visits, with a tour guide (optional).
Kids and parents will enjoy vegetable and pollinator gardens, beehives and animals (alpacas, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, bunnies, even alpacas).
Tours are every Saturday morning through July, in 3 time slots: 9-9:45, 10-10:45 and 11-11:45.
Registration (click here) is first-come, first-served. The fee supports animal care and farm maintenance.
Justin Paul and his family enjoyed a recent Wakeman Town Farm tour.
The AMPLIFY Festival — Beechwood Arts’ supportive showcase for black artists and performers — continues this week. All performances begin at 7 p.m.
Today (Tuesday, June 22), Kahyree Jannah reads his poem “You’re Killing Me Again,” and violist Amadi Azikiwe performs works by Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and Jessie Montgomery.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 24), writer/actor Iyaba Ibo Mandingo shares the fears of a black father whose children live in “the crosshairs of America.” He’ll perform a piece inspired by, and performed under, Beechwood’s 400-year-old copper beech tree.
Thursday, June 25 features poetry slam champion Tarishi Midnight Shuler, as well as the Delphi Dance Company.
On Friday, June 26, jazz vocalist Frederick Johnson leads a conversation on bringing people together through the power of words and music.
Click here to access the performances — and see those still archived from last week’s AMPLIFY Festival.
Compo Barber Shop — an institution in Compo Shopping Center for nearly 60 years — is closing. The final day for business is this Friday (June 26).
Tommy Ghianuly opened the shop, and ran it until his death in January 2019. New owners took over the next month.
The good news is, all of Compo Barber’s staff is moving to Westport Hair & Co. That’s the salon next to now-closed Olympia Sports, a few yards east in the same Compo Shopping Center.
They look forward to carrying on the 6-decade leagcy in their new shared space.
And they made a deal with Compo Barber’s owner to keep Tommy’s old phone number: 203-227-9779.
Another closure, this one reported by a reader: Panera Bread in Westport.
A phone call to the Post Road East store went unanswered, as did an email sent to the corporate press office. If anyone knows anything about this location, please click “Comments” below.
The Panera Bread near HomeGoods.
And finally … all the recent talk about Confederate flags and monuments made me think of this:
