jUNe Day: When The World Came To Wakeman Town Farm
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Wakeman Town Farm in Westport often gets visitors from out-of-town, especial for their special events like their upcoming family fun day. Saturday the large groups of visitors were from WAY out of town. LIke China, Pakistan and Boliva.
WTF was one of the stops for the visiting UN delegates and staff who were in town for jUNe Day. There were folks from Bolvia, Taiwan and Hungary. They were thrilled at the chance to show some love to the baby goats and lambs in the farm's enclosure. Even visitors from Kenya and Nigeria who are only a few hour's journey from seeing lions, giraffes and hippos were having a ball playing with and brushing a simply adorable group of baby goats which are on loan from a farm in Roxbury, CT.
A Wakeman staffer escorted small groups of excited children and delighted adults into the enclosure where they posed for photos, petted and even did some grooming on the playful, very curious, very friendly baby goats.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
jUNe Day Soccer: UN Team Defeats Westport Football Club, 9-7
Above left the home team, Westport Football Club and right the UN football team.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Anyone thinking the annual Football (Soccer in the US) match between the visiting United Nations team and our Westport Football Club, formerly known as the Westport Late Nights would be a competitive but somewhat casual game would not have expected the intensity of play between these long-time fierce rivals. Tremendous efforts by both clubs resulted in a hard played match with lots of contact and physical play.
The UN team came out strong, scoring 3 goals to zero in the first half. Westport FC fought back hard scoring all of their seven goals in the second half. The efforts were not quite enough as the UN team added another six goals to their first half total of three. Westport's goalie, Brian Kane suffered a game-ending injury early in the second period. After feeling something not right in his leg, he ignored the possible injury and continued to fight. A strong goal kick a few minutes into the second half caused his knee to fail completely and Westport EMS responded to the call, bringing Kane to the hospital where it was determined that he required surgery.
Westport scorers were led by Michael Nowakowski with 3 goals followed by Cat Pavel, who added 2 more. Peter Dorgai and Marius Jasinski each contributed 1 goal. Westport was coached by Damien McClave.
The UN Team scoring was well balanced, led by Harwan from Yemen with 3 goals, followed by AJ from Nigeria/USA, and Marcelo from Brazil scoring 2 goals apiece. Adding 1 goal each were Felipe from Brazil and Marcus from the US.
Aliamane Bacar Said, UN Soccer Team coach, complimented Westport on their fine play. Upon hearing of Kane's injury from WestportLocalPress, coach Said asked to relay his concern and hopes for a speedy recovery for the Westport goalie. Coach Said, who hails from the Comoros Islands also expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome the UN visitors received from the people of Westport.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Sunrise Rotary's 14th Annual Great Duck Race Another Huge Success
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Although the skies were a little threatening at the commencement of the jUNe Day ceremony and the Great Duck Race, the rain held off bringing hundreds to the annual Westport Sunrise Rotary Club's largest annual fundraiser. Such was not the case at 6:00 AM when three dozen hard working volunteers arrived amid a torrential downpour to begin the complicated setup.
Mr. Paul proudly told WestportLocalPress, "We sold just over 3,000 ducks and raised more than $70,000 that we will give away to charities. There were people as far away as Australia and Japan purchasing tickets and supporting 35 local Westport area charities. This year’s Great Duck Race had 25 sponsors who helped make this event possible and support the works of the Rotary Club."
Donny Corona of sponsor A.J. Penna carefully drove his front loader from the Jesup Green parking area where duckies were still being loaded until the very last minute. Corona then slowly "poured" the 3,000 ducks into the sluice for their journey to the finish line.”
The finish line found Sunrise Rotarian Steve Violette who selected each of the first ten ducks to enter the chamber of the sluice. They were then carefully placed in plastic bags numbered one through ten. Violette actually created the Duck Race 14 years ago and devised the giant sluice last year. Ducks are dropped from the bucket of the front loader into the sluice, then it is unsealed allowing the water to form a current directed to the finish line and emptying into the storm drain. Westport Fire Department was on site with a fire hose to hep direct the flow toward the end point.
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The Winners of the $10,000. cash prize money were:
First place duck belonging to Theresa House brought her $5,000.
In second place was Elyse Oleksak whose duck brought home $1,000.
The rest of the prize money, $500 each went to Rady Johnson, Lily Ayers, Andrew Dinitz, Janet Beers, Steven Benardete, Neil Santos, David Press and Helen McAlinden.
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Sunrise Rotary President Bruce Paul told WestportLocal, "Each year several winners have donated their prize money back to Westport Sunrise Rotary and this year was no exception. We are thrilled with their generosity and support." The prize monies donated back will pass on to the 35 charities supported by The Great Duck Race event. Said Paul of the contributions, "People can be really thoughtful."
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
jUNe Day: When The World Comes To Westport
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
On Saturday June 24th Westport held it's 58th annual welcome to the people of the world in conjunction with The United Nations Association of Southwestern Connecticut and the International Hospitality Committee. Delegates to the UN as well as staff members were given a warm welcome once again and were offered the opportunity to visit some of Westport's exceptional amenities such as Wakeman Town Farm, Compo Beach, Earthplace and the Longshore Golf Course among others. They also got to witness first-hand a Westport Institution, The Sunrise Rotary's Great Duck Race. The fierce rivalry on the Soccer pitch is also an annual event where The Westport Football Club took on the United Nations team, comprised of soccer players from all over the world at the Saugatuck school. (story and photos to follow)
The jUNe Day program began with a greeting from Mr. Willard Hass, President, NA-USA Southwestern CT Chapter. Mr. Hass was followed by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker who welcomed the international contingent to Westport. A message from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was delivered by the Guest of Honor, Mr. Christian Saunders. Mr. Saunders is the Under-Secretary-General, Special Coordinator on Improving the UN Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The important highlights from the message of UN Secretary-General Guterres which which were delivered by Under-Secretary-General Saunders were:
For over five decades, on the last Saturday of June, the Town of Westport has welcomed UN staff members, delegates and friends to mark a special occasion: the anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter.
The UN Charter is rooted in a simple idea: what happens to one member of the human family affects us all. Groups like yours understand that overcoming complex global challenges like conflicts, climate change, hunger, poverty and inequality requires all countries working together, as one.
We need globally minded citizens to stand together and lend their voices to call for action in support of the world’s most vulnerable people, and to build a better, fairer, more peaceful and sustainable future for all.
Mr. Sherif Mohamed United Nations Staff Union, Member of the Executive Board followed with closing remarks given by Mrs. Michaela MacColi, jUNe Day Chairperson.
