Dog Festival Returns to Winslow this Sunday
Photos Of Previous Westport Dog Festivals by J.C. Martin
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce is pleased announce that the 5th Annual Westport Dog Festival will be held on Winslow Park on Sunday October 10th from 10am to 4pm. The festival is once again being produced in association with TAILS the local charitable organization that promotes spay/neutering animals.
“We’re finally back after multiple cancellations due to the pandemic,” said Matthew Mandell, Executive Director of the WWCC. “This year it will be great, people really want to get out for a family day of fun. It’s a three ring circus of activities that will celebrate everything dog, so bring yours.“
The event will take advantage of the large field on Winslow Park, often called the dog park, with multiple informative and exciting demonstrations, goofy competitions, Police K9 presentation, kids activities, vendors, food trucks and more.
Demonstrations sponsored by Interstate Lumber will include guide dogs, training exhibitions and a meet and greet with Piglet the blind and deaf chihuahua. The police K9 presentations are sponsored by Garavel Autogroup. Competitions sponsored by Earth Animal will offer prizes for; best tail wager, best dressed, best kisser, best trick, best lap dog over 50 lbs and dog that most looks like its owner. Judging will be done by many of the Town’s elected officials. And of course there will be adoptables and information about all our outstanding non-profits, sponsored by Spot on Veterinary.
The presenter and lead sponsor of the event is Choice Pet. “We are thrilled to again be the main sponsor of the Westport Dog Festival,” said William Dellipoali, Director of Merchandising and Purchasing. “the moment we opened our Westport location in 2012, it was apparent that this is a community of kindred spirits who truly value the special relationship to their animal companions. The array of activities is absolutely outstanding, and we know that this will be an unforgettable family event for dog lovers, furry and otherwise.”
Surrounding the main activities will be over 50 pet related vendors, picture taking, caricatures, kids tattoos and lots of give-a-ways as well as an assortment of food trucks. Sponsor WEBE 108 will be broadcasting live from the event and will be offering tickets and prizes on air the week prior to the event.
Parking is available at the Westport Country Playhouse, and at other lots graciously offered by neighboring businesses. Look these designated lots along the post road.
The Festival entrance fee is $10 per person and $25 for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children). Proceeds will benefit non profit organizations. So far over $22,000 has been donated by the Chamber to deserving groups from the prior festivals.
Dog owners can register for the competitions online or at the festival. All information about the festival can be found at www.westportwestonchamber.com/dogs. A rain date is set for Sunday October 17th.
Morning Weather Report
Today
A chance of showers or drizzle before 9am, then a slight chance of showers after 9am. Cloudy, with a high near 67. Northeast wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph.
Tomorrow
Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Northeast wind 3 to 5 mph.
Tomorrow Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Calm wind.
Talking Transportation with Jim Cameron: Five Worst Ideas for Solving Traffic
Have you noticed how terrible our traffic is lately?
Not just in comparison to the empty roads and blue skies during the pandemic lockdown, but even compared to pre-COVID times.
The rush hour on I-95 starts earlier and runs later, pretty much all day long. The increased volume is due in large part to the return to the office but by car, not mass transit (where ridership is still only 50% of the good old days).
If there were easy answers to this congestion, they’d have been implemented by now. Look… this is really a matter of supply and demand: too much demand (highway traffic) and not enough supply (space on those roads).
But here are a few of the crazier ideas for fixing traffic I’ve heard suggested over the years:
1) DOUBLE-DECK I-95: Seriously, this was once proposed by the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. Can you imagine the decades of construction and billions in cost, with “upper level” roads having to soar hundreds of feet over existing overpasses?
2) ALLOW TRUCKS ON THE MERRITT PARKWAY: There are two words to explain why this can’t happen: low bridges.
3) BAN TRUCKS FROM I-95: Trucks are high-occupancy vehicles delivering goods to the stores that you, in your single-occupancy vehicle, drive to so you can shop. No trucks, no goods, no shopping.
4) DRIVE IN THE EMERGENCY BREAK-DOWN LANE: This was then-Governor Rowland’s idea and he even wasted a million dollars studying it. But if you think of that far right-hand lane instead as the “emergency rescue lane” you’ll see why this doesn’t make sense. This plan would also require re-striping existing traffic lanes to a narrower width, making driving more dangerous.
5) WIDENING I-95: Again, billions in cost and decades of construction. And if you build it, they will come. Traffic will expand to fill available space. Then what, a fifth lane?
I think there are better ideas for managing traffic congestion, some of them already being implemented:
OPERATIONAL LANES: Adding a fourth lane from on-ramps to off-ramps gives traffic a better chance of merging on and off the highway without blocking the through-lanes.
WIDENING CHOKE-POINTS: For example, the exit 14-15 mess in Norwalk. But this $42 million construction project, discussed since 2002, took almost five years to get built.
ADD A ZIPPER LANE: Sure, this may require highway widening, but just one lane that’s reversible depending on demand, a system used effectively on the Tappan Zee Bridge before it was rebuilt.
CHANGE COMMUTING HOURS: Does everyone really need to work 9 am – 5 pm? How about starting earlier or later and spreading out the traffic? Your employer should understand and you’ll be happier and more productive.
As I say, there are no simple solutions to highway congestion. It’s easy to identify the problems. But fixing them will always be expensive.
About Jim Cameron:
Jim Cameron has been a commuter advocate for over 30 years, with a special focus on the Metro North railroad. He spent nearly two decades on the Connecticut Metro North Commuter Council, and most recently founded The Commuter Action Group. Jim Cameron’s Talking Transportation was a popular column on the former WestportNow.com prior to its cessation, and joins The Westport Local Press and several other online community organizations. A resident of Darien - he serves on its Representative Town Meeting and is Program Director of the town government TV station, DarienTV79. He can be reached at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: @CTRailCommuters