The MOMbies Invasion Of Westport’s Vineyard Vines!
The MOMbies take over Vineyard Vines!
Photos by J.C. Martin, Story by Joy Martini For WestportLocalPress. Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
It seemed like an ordinary Saturday. Until…One of Westport’s favorite stores, Main Street’s Vineyard Vines, was invaded by the ghoulish MOMbies. There appears to be no casualties and if reports are correct, store employees and customers all left with their brains fully intact. (And smiles on their faces.)
The MOMbies. Who are they? What are they?
Ten years ago, Fairfield’s Terry Davis had an idea. Wouldn’t it be a hoot to gather a bunch of friends and do a flash mob dance to Thriller during trick-or-treating in their beach area neighborhood? It was just an idea to shake up Halloween and show the kids that moms can be fun. You could say the idea took hold. Following their break-out performance, the terrifying troupe which now numbers over 50 Fairfield moms, partnered with the Cancer Couch Foundation, which funds metastatic breast cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering. In their decade of dance, fully costumed as zombies and professional choreographed, the MOMbies have become a seasonal – and national, sensation!! Best of all with an anonymous matching donor, to date the MOMbies have raised nearly $750,000.
Each year, in addition to their dance performances, the MOMbies zombie up and hit the road to visit their corporate supporters. And that brings us to last Saturday and the march of the half-dead down Westport’s main drag. “We absolutely love visiting our special supporters and are so grateful for Vineyard Vines’ longtime generosity. This is where preppy meets petrifying!” noted Terry Davis, MOMbies founder and creative director.
Photos by J.C. Martin, Story by Joy Martini For WestportLocalPress. Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Join In The Fun On This Sunday!
Their main performance will be this Sunday, October 26th at Elicit Brewery in Fairfield with shows at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm. The free and family friendly show also will include a dance party, raffle prizes, a zombification station and other tricks and treats.
For more information, or to donate, visit mombies.org. You can also follow the ghouls:
@mombiesorg on Instagram, and @MOMbies on YouTube and Facebook.
To see them in action, check out YouTube: MOMbies in a Minute:
Family Fun At Earthplace Fall Fest
Earlier this month Earthplace, one of Westport’s true gems for children and families held their Fall Festival.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
There were plenty of fun activities for kids and their parents to enjoy. Everywhere you went there were games to be played, crafts to be created, and an opportunity to get close-up and personal with some of Earthplace’s wonderful wildlife.
A perennial favorite, the “corn pit” kept kids engaged for quite some time as the jumped, dove and “swam” in hundreds of thousand of corn kernels. They found several clever ways to enjoy this very busy attraction.
.Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery
The donut on a string presented a challenge for kids looking for a treat, but only with a bit of work. Kind of like an Earthplace version of bobbing for apples (a boomer reference no doubt).
There were plenty of fun activities for kids and their parents to enjoy. Everywhere you went there were games to be played, crafts to be created, and an opportunity to get close-up and personal with some of Earthplace’s wonderful wildlife.
.Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery
The eagle nest also drew quite a lot of attention as kids channeled their inner builder spirit, assembling tree limbs and sticks to created a larger than life “eagle nest” as they learned about many interesting facts about our national symbol and how they live.
.Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery
.Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery
Food vendors were also on hand, including Paradise Island Food which offered authentic Puerto Rican food from their elaborate food truck and buffet.
.Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery
No King’s October 18th Protests Nationwide Now Exceed 2600; Expect Traffic And Delays Downtown On Saturday, 10:30AM
The nationwide No Kings Day movement will be holding protests all across the country and in locations around the world to express their refusal to accept the actions of the Trump administration. The number of protests for this event is currently at 2600, a dramatic increase from the 2100 protests held on June 14th, 2025. Those protests took place on the same day as the U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade and Trump's 79th birthday and estimates of 5,000,000 people in attendance nationally were reported in the media. The map above shows locations of protest rallies.
This interactive map can be found at: No Kings Map.org and locations of the rallies can be found.
At last check there were nearly 40 protests shown to be taking place in CT from Greenwich, north to Salisbury, east to Killingly and south to Mystic, essentially covering all corners of the state, as well as Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport & Stamford as noted on No Kings.org
Photos above by J.C. Martin for WestportLocalPress are from the June No Kings Day protest. The close-up of the trip-state area map from No Kings.org.
Westport’s protest begins to gather at 10:45 AM at Jesup Green and will march from Jesup to Veteran’s Green at the north end of Main St. traffic and potential road closures will make downtown travel difficult. The end time for the protest may possibly be as late as 1:00 PM, with similar downtown protests dissipating around 12:30 PM, however that is no guarantee that will occur Saturday. Organizers project as many as 1,000 people who may possibly join the protest.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has dubbed the protest the “Hate America Rally”
Yahoo News Mike Johnson Comments
NBC News reported on a Fox News interview of Johnson commenting on the protest: “In a Fox News interview, Johnson referred to those marching Saturday as the “pro-Hamas wing” and the “antifa people.” Republican congressional leaders have dubbed them the “hate America” rallies.
See: NBC News Politics
OnThursday morning, the No Kings coalition held a press conference with these speakers:
- Leah Greenberg, Co-Founder, Indivisible Project
- Katie Bethell, Executive Director, MoveOn Civic Action
- Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political & Advocacy Officer, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Jaime Contreras, Executive Vice President, 32BJ SEIU
- Robert Weissman, Co-President, Public Citizen
- Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
- Sarah Parker, 50501 and Voices of Florida
Here is the YouTube link to that presser:
No Kings Press Conference
The Westport Police Department issued this press release:
Westport Police Department Traffic Advisory – Planned Protest for Saturday, October 18 (Westport, CT) The Westport Police Department has been made aware of an organized protest assembly scheduled to take place in the downtown area on Saturday, October 18, 2025, between approximately 11:00am and 1:00pm. At minimum, motorists should anticipate significant traffic delays, with the potential for road closures and associated detours. It is therefore suggested that travelers seek alternate routes around the downtown area or simply avoid the vicinity if feasible. Those driving to or through the locality of this demonstration during this timeframe are asked to be patient, cautious and mindful of what is anticipated to be extremely heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 14, 2025 Contact: Lieutenant Anthony Prezioso APrezioso@WestportCT.gov.
Westport PD is expected to update information on event conditions on Friday.
The Saugatuck Reservoir Clearly Illustrates The Reason For Governor Lamont’s Drought Advisory, Which May Be Temporary
The above photo shows how depleted the water in the reservoir has become in recent years due to drought conditions prevailing in Fairfield County. Other photos show the flow of the Saugatuck as it passes through Redding alongside Route 53 which runs south to Weston and then into Norwalk. The water line in years past reached the tree line, the trees on the “island” were barely visible when the levels were high and the sand, grassy areas and rocks were usually underwater.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com. Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos above show the Saugatuck River being little more than a little stream as it flows into the reservoir.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont declared a Stage 2 drought advisory for Fairfield, Middlesex, and New Haven counties on October 7, 2025, due to below-average precipitation. This advisory is a step up from the Stage 1 conditions that were previously in place across the state. The Nor’Easter forecast for this week may help raise the water levels in the Reservoir, however the rise in water in the Saugatuck River often causes flooding in Westport.
A Stage 2 advisory is considered an "incipient drought" and is intended to raise public awareness of emerging drought conditions. The severity can vary by location, especially for those relying on private wells. The governor's decision was based on a recommendation from the Connecticut Interagency Drought Workgroup, following an evaluation of indicator data such as rainfall, surface water, and groundwater levels.
Drought conditions have slowed the flow of the Saugatuck in recent years. The website Snoflo.org reports the flow rate on Sunday, October 12, 2025 as being about 1 CFS, or 9% of normal. A water flow of 1 cubic feet per second (cfs) means that one cubic foot of water passes a given point every second. This is a low-to-moderate flow rate, equivalent to about 450 gallons per minute, and is considered slow-moving water for most rivers.
It remains to be seen if the current weather event will make any difference in the water level of the reservoir or the current drought conditions.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The Google Earth photo (above, CENTER) shows where the Saugatuck River issues from Sugar Hollow Pond, its headwaters located at exactly 41°20'50.4"N 73°28'06.4"W[2] approximately 3 miles (5 km) southwest of downtown Danbury. Above, right shows a deeper, fuller flow as it enters into the reservoir, slowing the flow. The Saugatuck flows generally southeast, passing through the Saugatuck Reservoir (283 feet (86 m) above sea level), then turns south-southwest. In Westport, it broadens into a navigable estuary along its lower 5 miles (8 km) and enters Long Island Sound approximately 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Norwalk. Interstate 95 crosses the river near its mouth downstream from Westport center. The river is wadeable along much of its course and is a popular seasonal destination for trout fishing, with the state of Connecticut stocking the river annually.,
During the 19th century, the lower river became the site of warehouses and shipyards, as well as an important hub of maritime commerce. The town of Westport was incorporated out of the existing village of Saugatuck at the mouth of the Saugatuck River and several surrounding communities in 1835. Bridgeport Hydraulic Company Holdings (now owned by Aquarion) flooded the Saugatuck River Valley after 1938, removing the villages of Hull and Valley Forge to create the Saugatuck Reservoir.
The Samuel P. Senior dam was completed in 1941, with the reservoir filling in 1942, as stated by Wikipedia and Snoflo. he construction of the dam was the final step in a master plan envisioned by Samuel Palmer Senior for the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, which is now the Aquarion Water Company. The Saugatuck is the largest of the eight reservoirs that make up Aquarion’s greater Bridgeport water system. It holds about 12 billion US gallons (45,000,000 m3) of water.