Thousands Flock To Compo Beach To Celebrate America’s Birthday
Melissa & Doug and Westport PAL once again team up to give us a spectacular show.
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At 6:30 PM there was still prime real estate available. By 7:30, it was all gone. The baseball field had been marked up for perfectly aligned parking.
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Getting a prime spot early is always a good idea.
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Pretty easy for these party-goers to find the party!
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Some folks had the perfect view, and no traffic!
jUNe Day: When The World Came To Wakeman Town Farm
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Sunrise Rotary's 14th Annual Great Duck Race Another Huge Success
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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.
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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.
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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.
