Around Town

New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Adds Eight Directors

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The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the addition of eight new members to its Board of Directors as well the creation of a new, dedicated board composed of past chamber presidents that will help oversee the organization’s charitable foundation. Nimble, engaged and innovative, the new chamber directors form an exciting group of business and organization leaders in town, according to Tucker Murphy, executive director of the chamber. “Our mission is ‘connecting community with commerce,’ and we kept those four words very much top of mind in putting together this board,” Murphy said. “Our new directors not only represent successful local businesses stories—they’re also deeply involved in our town. Beyond participating in chamber events such as the Sidewalk Sales, Holiday Stroll and Taste of the Town, they actively fundraise for community agencies, volunteer with service organizations and connect with each other for their mutual benefit.”

The newly appointed directors each have started serving a 3-year term, and they are:

David E. Hoyle Esq.—Hawthorne, Ackerly & Dorrance
Lisa Oldham—New Canaan Library
Mamoune Tazi—Le Boudoir
Anna Simons—New Canaan Pediatric Dentistry
Michael Dinan—NewCanaanite.com
Ben & Elaine Young—New Canaan Dance Academy
Sara Koch—Oxygen Fitness
Kinsey Ferguson—Vineyard Vines

Helping to acclimate them are three current directors who now form a new executive committee for the chamber: Steve Risbridger of Reynolds & Rowella is president, Tom Stadler of the Town of New Canaan First Selectman’s Office is treasurer and HamletHub’s Rachel Lampen is secretary.

Business

New Canaan Draws Crowds for Taste of the Town Stroll, Supporting Local Food Pantry and Businesses

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[acx_slideshow name=”2014 New Canaan Taste of the Town Stroll”]

Scores of shoppers, a good few foodies among them, crowded the sidewalks and stores along Elm Street Thursday night for the fourth annual Taste of the Town Stroll. A “foodraiser” benefitting the New Canaan Food Pantry that also connects businesses with new customers while giving those customers deals and a good chance to win a raffle prize, the Taste of the Town Stroll is a New Canaan Chamber of Commerce event. Though skies were threatening all evening, the rain held off above a bustling Elm Street, as shoppers enjoyed bits of food and drink inside stores, some live music from School of Rock and the New Canaan Music “house band” up at the alley toward the top of Elm. Supporters of the pantry—many of whom dropped off non-perishables at tables set up for the purpose on Elm, or had purchased needed goods at cost from Walter Stewart’s, a major supporter of the Stroll—and our businesses also had a chance to win dozens of prizes given away in a raffle. Chamber Executive Director Tucker Murphy said the main goal of the event is to see the increasingly important food pantry stocked overnight.

Business

New Canaan Gears Up for Aug. 21 ‘Taste of the Town Stroll’

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New Canaan’s business community is gearing up for an increasingly popular annual event that connects local merchants with customers while benefitting the local food pantry. The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s third annual Taste of the Town Stroll, benefitting the New Canaan Food Pantry, runs from 6 to 9 p.m. next Thursday, Aug. 21 (rain date Aug. 22). Chamber Marketing Associate Laura Budd calls the event “a triple win.”

“Number one, the food pantry gets stocked.

Business

‘Le Boudoir’ Salon To Open Friday on Main Street

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Mamoune Tazi, 29, knew when he moved to New York City from Morocco in 2008 that he wanted to come up with an interesting concept for his own business venture. He’d worked with hair in his native country, but Tazi wasn’t sure what the concept would involve exactly—only that it would be something creative. A year into his residence here, he met his would-be wife, Alena, now 24, in hair school (Carsten Institute of Cosmetology) downtown, and the pair moved to Norwalk, marrying in 2010. “The feeling of opening a business is very exciting,” Tazi said Monday afternoon from Le Boudoir, the blow dry and beauty bar (tag line “come pretty, leave gorgeous”) that he and Alena are opening Friday at 160 Main St., just across from New Canaan Library. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment since I came to the U.S. Now that it’s happening, I feel like ‘Whoa.’ Time flies by.