The Westport Library café is a great place to hang out.
The coffee and food are delicious. The view of the river is spectacular. You’re never rushed, and there’s no music playing (loudly) in the background.
But who looks at the ceiling, as they enjoy their time?
Andrew Colabella, Ed Simek, Beth Berkowitz, Seth Schachter, Wendy Schaefer and Tom Feeley — that’s who.
They’re the 6 alert readers who quickly identified the Library café ceiling as the image in last week’s Photo Challenge. (Click here to see.)
Congratulations — you really know what’s up down at the library.
Now, do you — and everyone else — know where to find this week’s Photo Challenge? If you do, click ”’Comments” below.
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
The Westport Library is one of the most popular spots in town.
And the Library Café is one of the most popular spots inside that very versatile building.
So it was no surprise that nearly 2 dozen readers quickly guessed last week’s Photo Challenge.
Pam Docters’ image showed a once-well-used card catalog, now repurposed to hold utensils, condiments and sugar, for patrons sandwich eaters and coffee drinkers.
Click here to see the photo. And kids: If you have no idea what a “card catalog” is, ask your parents. (Or grandparents.)
Congratulations to Dick Lowenstein,, Susan Israel, Joyce Barnhart, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Sal Liccione, Nina Marino, Molly Alger, Alison Wachstein, Seth Schachter, Andrew Colabella, Ed Simek, Beth Berkowitz, Rachel Sara Halperin, Karen Como, Scott Brodie, Jonathan McClure, Jack Backiel, Peter Gold, Janice Strizever, Susan Garment and Karen Kim.
For correctly guessing last week’s Photo Challenge, you all win a free library card!
This week’s challenge is below. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” underneath.
(Photo/Stephanie Mastocciolo)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
But Salsa Fresca is betting the 3rd time’s the charm.
The idea is the same: build your own Mexican meal — burrito, bowl, taco, salad, nachos, quesadilla — from a list of items.
Salsa Fresca is a lot smaller than either of the 2 chains that preceded it. They had hundreds. This will be just the 9th Salsa Fresca in New York and Connecticut. The closest locations now are Danbury and Bedford Hills.
They’ll open in the exact same spot — at the foot of Playhouse Square, underneath Kennedy’s Barber Shop — that Qdoba vacated more than 3 years ago.
So I’ll say this about Salsa Fresca: They’ve got some big cojones.
With no 4th of July fireworks yesterday, “06880” reader Jennifer McCarthy floated the idea of rescheduling the pyrotechnics — this year only — to Labor Day.
Looks like a washout, though (just like Friday night’s would have been). Westport PAL — longtime sponsor of the annual event — says that town officials nixed the concept a while ago, not wanting to risk being a super-spreader.
In addition, staffing would be tough. Many seasonal employees will already be back in college.
See you at Compo in early July, 2022!
Fears of another super-spreader event mean no fireworks until next year. (Photo/Rick Benson)
The Gillespie Center food pantry is out of essentials.
Items needed include canned meats (chicken, tuna, salmon, Spam), pasta sauces, jams and jellies, hot and cold cereals, canned fruits and vegetables,, and paper and reusable bags.
They can be dropped off at the Gillespie Center courtyard (behind Don Memo restaurant) today, tomorrow and Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But anyone wandering by the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot across from the Southport Diner yesterday — just over the town line — might have thought it was our 145th.
And finally … on this day in 1954, Elvis Presley recorded his first single, “That’s All Right,” at Sun Records in Memphis. The world was never the same.
=======================================================The Westport Library Café is open again.
Well, sort of. Hours are limited (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.). There’s beverage service only — none of the great Mystic Market treats that were so popular before COVID.
But it’s a start. The gorgeous space by the river no longer seems so empty.
Meanwhile, the library store — filled with gifts, cards, and whatnot — has re-emerged from its hiatus in one of the reading rooms. It’s back on the main floor.
Now all we need are dozens of people hanging out on the Forum steps, speakers on stage every night, and water running once again from the bubblers.
The Netflix crew that’s spent several weeks filming “The Noel Diary” in Westport has inconvenienced some residents. They’ve also taken taken over the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot, for use as a staging area. Several large trucks are camped there. Closure of the lot has upset some dog-walking regulars, who prefer that spot to the North Compo lot.
But some were particularly upset yesterday, at the mess left in the northeast corner of the lot. A temporary tent used by the production crew was gone.
Lisa Doran’s Greens Farms Elementary School distance learning 1st graders welcomed a very special visitor yesterday.
1st Selectman Jim Marpe took time out of his day to pop into her classroom — via Zoom — to chat.
The students were enthralled — and inquisitive. When one asked what Marpe likes best about his job, he got up from his desk, and grabbed the giant pair of scissors — a present from his wife after his first election. He uses them at ribbon cutting ceremonies, which he says is his favorite task.
Another student asked if he knows everyone in Westport. He said that he knows quite a lot of people — especially since COVID, when he met so many Westporters online.
The next student asked if he was like the president of Westport. That’s a great analogy. And Doran’s class thanked the “president” for spending some quality time with them.
1st Selectman Jim Marpe (lower right), Greens Farms Elementary School teacher Lisa Doran (top row, 2nd from left), and her students on Zoom.
The Westport Museum of History & Culture’s walking tour of downtown — uncovering the hidden stories of Black life here, over the centuries — has sold out.
So they’ve added 2 more tours: Friday, June 18 (2 p.m.) and Saturday, June 19th (9:30 a.m.).
Tickets are $10. Reservations are required. Click here to register, and for more information.
For 2 years, Rosemary Cass has enriched the lives of people 55 and older.
Her “Seeing it Clearly Now” blog inspires everyone — retired or not — to learn new things, find purpose, and explore the arts.
Rosemary has just added a 2nd blog. It’s aimed at a special niche: grandmothers.
She says that “This Granny Rocks” — clever name, no? — provides a place where “grannies can brag about their perfect grandchildren, without everyone rolling their eyes. No judgment here.”
Readers can submit stories, their grandkids’ photos and clever sayings, and warm, nostalgic stories about their own grandmothers. The site will also offer helpful granny information, and advice on the art of grandmothering.
It launched with stories from Joan Isaacson (Westport author of “The Red Velvet Diary”), and Sharon Citrin Goldstein of Fairfield. To learn more, click here.
The arts are crucial to Westport. But — like anything beautiful — they must be nurtured.
To help, MoCA Westport is hosting an open meeting. Representatives from local arts organizations and 2nd Selectwoman Jen Tooker will talk — and listen — about the best ways to support our arts institutions and community.
The event is next Monday (June 21, 5 to 6 p.m., outdoors at MoCA, 19 Newtown Turnpike. It’s free; no registration required. Questions? Email ruth@mocawestport.org, or call 203-222-7070.
Connecticut is one of the healthiest states in the country. Yet there are huge disparities between white people, and those of color.
Wesport’s Unitarian Church — long devoted to social justice — hosts a webinar about health inequities, and what can be done about them (including what audience members can do).
“Racial Health Inequities” is set for June 28 at 7 (p.m.). Guest speaker is Rev. Robyn Anderson, director of the Ministerial Health Fellowship. The event is free to all, but advance registration is required.
The webinar is the Unitarian Church’s second in their series “Revealing History: How We Got Here, Why it Matters.”
And finally … on this day in 1967, the 3-day Monterey Pop Festival opened in California. Over 50,000 people were there for the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix, the Who and Ravi Shankar; the first large-scale public performance by Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience.
If you never watch another “06880” music video, you can’t miss Otis:
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