J.C. Martin J.C. Martin

Touch-A-Truck Proves It; Kids Love Trucks!

With many folks observing that kids are spending much of their time on screens of one kind or another one thing became perfectly clear on Saturday at the the annual Westport Touch-A-Truck; Kids love trucks! And so do their parents.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

Hosted by the Westport Weston Cooperative Nursery School and held at the Imperial Lot, 50 Imperial Avenue, Westport, hundreds of visitors wandered through an impressive array of all manner of trucks including big rigs, dump trucks, and industrial cranes and other heavy equipment which were available for viewing from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Kids made a beeline to Westport’s Fire, Police and EMS vehicles as well as a State Police cruiser manned by Westporter Joey Bairaktaris (below right) who recently became a trooper with the Connecticut State Police.

One of the big attractions was the Roaming Railroad which took attendees for a ride throughout the vehicles and equipment on exhibit. The popularity is clear from the long line which appears in the photo above and below.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

Westport Animal Control Officer Peter V.K. Reid (bottom, left) brought a couple of pups rescued by him with the hope that a potential adopter might fall in love. One of the more popular stops on the tour was an ambulance belonging to Westport Volunteer Emergency Medial Service. Crew Chief Jaimie Bairaktaris shows a couple of fascinated kids some of the life-saving equipment he and his EMS colleagues regularly employ to treat patients when responding to EMS calls.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

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J.C. Martin J.C. Martin

Staples Boys Tennis Notch 7th Straight Victory; Defeat Trumbull 5-2

Wreckers Boys Tennis continues to burn up the courts with this seventh strait win. They faced the Trumbull Eagles on Thursday at home and the Wreckers won 2 of 4 singles matches and they defeated the Eagles in all three doubles matches.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

They are now 11-2 for the season after Saturday’s victory over Fairfield Warde and will face Danbury at home on Monday at 4:00PM. Junior Alex Cozzolino and Freshman Kieran Anand prevailed in their singles matches and Juniors Lucas Ceballos-Cala and Co-Captain Noah Wolff were defeated. Doubles matches were all Staples with wins by Mattie Guadarrama (Jr.) / Hayden Frey (Sr. Captain), Jared Even / Clint Graham (Sr.) and Aleko Vergakis (So.) / Shreyas Gorre ((Jr.)

Singles Scoring:

1. Justin Ilie (T) def. Noah Wolff (S)  6-3, 7-6 2. Dean Jackson (T) def. Lucas Ceballos-Cala (S)  7-6, 6-1

3. Alex Cozzolino (S) def. Peter Bahr (T)  6-4, 2-6, 6-3 4. Kieran Anand (S) def. Andre Esperitu (T)  6-1, 6-0

Doubles Scoring

1. Mattie Guadarrama / Hayden Frey (S) def. Neel Jakka / Johnnie Iacci (T)  6-0, 6-0 2. Jared Even / Clint Graham (S) def. Josh Jacob / Jackson Sanderson (T)  6-7, 7-6, 10-8 3. Aleko Vergakis / Shreyas Gorre (S) def. Rithik Gunda / Jason Orlick (T)  6-3, 6-4

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

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J.C. Martin J.C. Martin

Staples LAX Falls To New Canaan, 1-5

Two-time defending state champion Staples Wreckers Boys Lacrosse faced a fired-up New Canaan Rams team at home on Thursday, and despite fighting hard on defense and leading 1-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Wreckers were unable to find the net more than once early in the match. Tristan Schaefer, unassisted put Staples only goal on the scoreboard.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

The tone of the game changed quickly, with New Canaan returning to the field in the second quarter scoring in just over the first minute to tie the match 1-1. Just two minutes later the Rams scored again going, into the locker room at the half leading by a goal. Again, they scored quickly after the break to bring the score to 3-1 and New Canaan would then go on to score twice more.

Staples was only able to win 2 out of 10 face-offs putting pressure on goalie Josh Marcus who had 9 saves, closely matching the 10 saves for New Canaan goalies Cam Lyden and Jack Crowell, however the Rams fired more shots than the Wreckers resulting in the win for New Canaan.

Staples Head coach Will Koshansky told WestportLocalPress, “Our defense played very well, our offense generated good scoring opportunities but did not put the ball in the net. We had 21 shots. Need to score more than 1 goal to win. Credit to their defense and goalies, however if we would have shot at an average level instead of very poorly I think the outcome would have been different.”

Staples will again take the field on Saturday at 3:00 for a non-conference match against St. John’s Prep of Massachusetts which will be preceded by the Wreckers annual Sticks For Soldiers event which begins at 2:30 PM.

Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

A future Wreckers star kept an eye on the match as did a Blue Merle Boston Bulldog. Wreckers fans included some girl’s team members posing for a few snaps.

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J.C. Martin J.C. Martin

Come And Touch-A-Truck On Saturday In Downtown Westport

The Westport Weston Cooperative Nursery School is hosting their annual Touch-A-Truck event on Saturday at the Imperial Lot, 50 Imperial Avenue, site of the Farmer’s Market and Remarkable Theatre on Saturday, May 4th.

The event will open at 9:00 AM and will run until 1:30PM. Be advised that the projected 4 day closure of I-95 for the demolition of the Fairfield Ave. bridge in Norwalk will continue to impact Westport traffic. Westport PD suggests allowing for increased travel time.

Traffic not withstanding, the popular event which is a major fundraiser for the school is expect to draw hundreds of families to enjoy getting up close and personal with all manner of trucks including big rigs, dump trucks, and industrial cranes and other heavy equipment. Fire, Police and EMS vehicles will also be available to inspect. All our favorite family activities will be there as well, including face painting, crafts,and food trucks and live music.

The school describes the annual event this way, “Our annual Touch-A-Truck inspires young minds, allows children to explore with their senses, and provides our contributors an opportunity to promote to the community. A wide array of vehicles and other child-centered activities make it an event, eagerly anticipated by area children and families.” They note that, “The event will have a designated ‘Quiet Time’ from 9:00am-9:30am. NO horns/sirens/loud noises until the 9:30am countdown to noise!”

The event’s generous sponsors include Bartaco and Interstate Lakeland Lumber.

Admission is $35. per family and all proceeds will benefit The Westport Weston Cooperative Nursery School.

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