Around Town

‘A Really Fun Community Day’: Sidewalk Sale Coming Saturday

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The 53rd Annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale this weekend will feature vendor booths, food trucks, child-friendly activities, live music and, as of the latest forecasts, clear sunny skies. The Sidewalk Sale, to be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday after local merchants with street-level shops put out their discount racks at 10 a.m. Friday until 4 p.m. that afternoon, promises to be “a really fun community day,” said the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s Laura Budd. The Friday headstart for local businesses is designed to give shoppers a “preview” of the day-long event, Budd said. Parking in all legal spaces will be free starting at 12 p.m. Friday. The real excitement of the Village Fair portion will begin Saturday, Budd said, when portions of Elm Street, Main Street, Forest Street and South Avenue are closed to motor vehicle traffic to create the quintessential “safe and family friendly pedestrian mall.”

In all, 110 vendors are scheduled to set up shop outdoors, with exclusive deals and bargains.

Business

Letter from Chamber: ‘Thank You’ for Support of Sidewalk Sales

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On Friday July 15th and Saturday July 16th the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce hosted the 51st Annual Village Fair and Sidewalk Sales. Thousands of bargain hunters and their families came downtown for the fun! With over 125 participating merchants and vendors there was plenty of entertainment, food and of course, bargains galore for everyone! We added a day for the “Early Bird Shopping” on Friday this year and from what we hear that it was a huge success.” The fair, like any other big event, takes months and months of planning. The Chamber would like to thank our lead sponsor, William Raveis Real Estate!

Business

PHOTOS: 2016 New Canaan Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale

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Scores of bargain-hunters braved extreme heat to visit downtown New Canaan on Saturday for the annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale. Perusing through racks and tables of merchandise from more than 100 vendors on Main, Elm and Forest Streets—all closed to traffic for the annual New Canaan Chamber of Commerce-organized event—some with unfortunate dogs in tow, shoppers enjoyed live music, including from the New Canaan Town Band and School of Rock New Canaan, staying hydrated and filling up on food from South End Uncorked, Melt Mobile and other vendors in the Pop Up Park and elsewhere (not to mention ice cream from Baskin Robbins), making a strong showing, according to Tucker Murphy, the chamber’s executive director. “Fantastic, really great,” Murphy said as the afternoon drew to a close. “Great weather but hot—hot, hot, hot. But everybody seems to be very happy and now the challenge seems to be getting everyone out of here safely.”

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Tragic news reported by The Advocate: A 2-month-old baby girl from New Canaan died in Stamford on Tuesday evening, hours after she developed a problem breathing at daycare. The newspaper’s crime and courts reporter writes that police are calling the cause of death blunt-force head trauma, and the incident has been classified as a homicide. Her family lives on Locust Avenue, the newspaper reported. The Stamford Police detective overseeing the case was not immediately available for comment. Full article here.

Business

New Canaan Merchants Could Kickstart Sidewalk Sales on Friday This Summer

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With Darien and Greenwich now planning to hold their Sidewalk Sales on the same weekend traditionally “reserved” by New Canaan, downtown merchants hope to kick off this year’s big event one day earlier than usual, officials said. Businesses with storefronts downtown could put their discounted goods out on the sidewalks in front of them during regular hours on Friday, July 15, and the full-on and hugely popular Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale—including street closures, additional vendors and a food court in the Pop Up Park—will be held as usual on Saturday, July 16, according to Tucker Murphy, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. “What we’re going to propose is to have our local merchants on the sidewalk on that Friday to have a little bit of a leg up,” Murphy told the Planning & Zoning Commission at the group’s regular meeting Tuesday night, held at Town Hall. “And the other benefit to this is that, God forbid if you have some weather on either side, this would give you another day to have some movement of your inventory and some sales.”

This summer’s Sidewalk Sales will mark the event’s 50th anniversary in New Canaan, Murphy said. For as long as she’s been head of the chamber (seven years in April), Murphy said, she’s met with fellow chamber directors to map out their special events and make sure there’s no awkward crossover.