The creators of a hugely popular, grassroots gathering of classic and specialty car enthusiasts in downtown New Canaan will cut back from four planned events to just one more in 2014, and thereafter will seek to host just two per year rather than six.
Police Commissioners at the May 20, 2014 meeting, L-R: Paul Foley, Chairman Stuart Sawabini and Secretary Sperry DeCew. Credit: Michael Dinan
Pending approval from a special events committee, the final Caffeine & Carburetors of 2014 will be held Sept. 7 on Pine and Elm Streets, following a decision made Tuesday by the Police Commission.
Following concerns that the Caffeine & Carburetors had gotten so large that it couldn’t be held in the center of New Canaan as frequently as planned (an estimated 5,000-plus spectators came to the one in April), town officials had suggested holding two events downtown and the rest off-site, such as at Waveny or the high school.
Doug Zumbach, a creator and organizer of the event that has always centered around his eponymous gourmet coffee shop on Pine and Grove Streets, said it’s not worth holding Caffeine & Carburetors anywhere else.
“We’d like to keep it on Pine Street,” Zumbach said during the commission’s meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. “We don’t see any benefit by moving it to Waveny. It’s not going to help the town, not going to help Pine Street. Moving it to the parking lot, the commuter parking lot, I see the need for as many CERT people, as many police officers. And again the benefit is nil. So, what I still would like to do is get that first and last event on Pine and Elm, as [First Selectman Rob] Mallozzi had said.”
New Canaan’s Doug Zumbach, owner of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street. Credit: Michael Dinan
Zumbach requested permission to hold the event—the commission itself is involved insofar as it makes decisions about road closures—on Sept. 7 of this year. The commission voted unanimously to close Pine and Elm Streets from 7 to 11 a.m. on that day. In the future, Zumbach said, he will seek to hold Caffeine & Carburetors in April and September only.
April and May marked the first times that Caffeine & Carburetors, which grew out of a small gathering in front of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, had expanded to Elm Street—an expansion designed to accommodate its growing popularity in a way that would serve New Canaan merchants.
Told of the changes coming to Caffeine & Carburetors, one Elm Street business owner—Heidi Burrows of New Canaan Olive Oil, a speciality olive oil and vinegar tasting shop—said she was “happy to hear” the event would continue.
“I think it’s good exposure for the businesses downtown and good for the event to stick to its roots, rather than be moved to another location,” Burrows told NewCanaanite.com. “Twice a year or six times a year, we will gladly be open for the events.”
Here’s a slideshow from the May Caffeine & Carburetors, article continues below:
[acx_slideshow name=”May 6 2014 Caffeine and Carburetors”]
Said Phil Williams of New Canaan Music, which also had opened for this year’s Caffeine & Carburetors: “It will be a departure from what Doug originally had in mind for the concept of Caffeine and Carburetors, but I think it will ultimately be a good evolutionary step in solidifying it as a major event that will be on everyone’s calendar twice a year. Furthermore, I feel it will keep the event on the streets rather than relegated to the parking lots, as one of the proposals I read about suggested.”
Police Commission Secretary Sperry DeCew during the meeting suggested that, for safety reasons, participating motorists not be allowed to drive their cars away from the event and through the cordoned-off, all-pedestrian areas while people and dogs are milling about.
“It would strike me that for safety purposes, there should be a fixed time for when the cars can leave, and they’ve got to stay put for a couple of hours or something,” Decew said. “But to have cars weaving in and out while everybody is walking around to me is asking for trouble.”
Zumbach and Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini responded that volunteers from the coffee shop would arrange to serve as spotters to “hand-walk” those vehicles out as needed.
The other change to Caffeine & Carburetors is that port-a-poddies will be provided for the event, as per New Canaan Health Department Sanitarian Carla DeLuca.
During the meeting, a Seminary Street resident requested that the town consider closing that road between Oenoke Lane and Park Street for the event’s entirety, and also that the megaphone-driven volume from the event itself be reduced.
Sawabini suggested that a request be made directly to Zumbach to increase the total number of speakers broadcasting Caffeine & Carburetors down on Pine Street—while reducing the size of each—or else making a request of Administrative Officer Tom Stadler and the special events committee that it be made a stipulation in issuing permits for the event.