Hey, soccer moms, tired of feeling like an Uber driver for your kids, shuttling them from school to practice, from playdate to home? Well, I have an answer and an app for you: VANgo. Launched last year by Connecticut native Marta Jamrozik, named as one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and daughter of a working mom, the concept is simple: A ride app for pre-teens and teens with drivers who know about child care. “All of our drivers are thoroughly vetted,” Jamrozik said. “They need to have at least three years of childcare experience, a clean DMV record, undergo a background check, fingerprinting, reference checks and even an inspection of their vehicle.”
VANgo, which provides insurance for its drivers, is operating in Fairfield County and Phoenix, Arizona, and hopes to expand to more cities this summer.
Nine Darien schools, restaurants and other food-serving establishments each received A ratings in the latest reports of health inspections released by Darien Health Department. One received a “B” rating. The 10 inspections took place between May 13 and 20. Keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of good ratings may occasionally get a poor inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong. Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):
SCHOOLS
—Darien High School — 80 High School Lane — May 20 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Inside ice machine door, plastic cover broken/cracked.”
The Children’s School, an independent primary school in Stamford enrolling children age 3 to 8, is hosting an open house this Friday morning, May 31. — an announcement from the Children’s School
During the open house, guests will have a chance to tour the school’s beautiful LEED-certified buildings, meet staff and learn more about innovative programs.
Those who are dedicated to nurturing young children take pleasure in seeing those minds and personalities blossom, in all their individuality. It is these moments of excitement that lie at the heart of the Children’s School’s mission: to help children discover for themselves how exhilarating and meaningful it is to learn. Please call (203) 329.8815 or email tcs@childrensschool.org to reserve a place on Friday, May 31, at 9 a.m.
This past Tuesday, May 21, the Community Fund of Darien hosted its 40th annual Recognition Day Luncheon at the Darien Community Association to honor Darien residents who volunteer at local organizations for their dedication and hard work. — Libby Markham, a senior intern at the Community Fund of Darien, wrote this announcement from the organization
Thirty five Darien residents (see the list, below) received well deserved applause for their volunteer work at a variety of local organizations: Darien Community Association Thrift Shop, Person-to-Person, Darien Arts Center, Darien Human Services, League of Women Voters of Darien, Domestic Violence Crisis Center, and Family Centers among others. Linda and Bruce Koe were the guest speakers of the event, each with extensive backgrounds in community service at organizations like Building One Community, Food Rescue US, New Covenant Center, Stamford Food Collaborative, and the Connecticut Food Bank. They spoke of their involvement with nonprofits and their dedication to serving the local community. “It is really humbling to have the opportunity to speak to a group of volunteers that are as committed and as accomplished as you all are,” Linda Koe said during her speech.
An announcement about traffic and parking regulations for Darien’s downtown Memorial Day Parade 2019 from Darien police:
(Darienite.com added the boldface.)
The Town of Darien Memorial Day Parade will be held on Monday, May 27, 2019. Traffic detours and restrictions will be in effect at some locations beginning at 8 a.m.
The Darien Police Department will be deploying additional assets to the parade. As a safety precaution, spectators are asked to avoid bringing backpacks or large bags to the event. Your Memorial Day Handbook 2019
— You can watch the parade and ceremony ONLINE, starting at 10 a.m., here. Marching Order, Program Agenda
About Grand Marshal Pat Parlette
Speaker Matt Pavia
Enjoy the Darien EMS-Post 53 Food Fair
The Route
The parade will step off from Goodwives Shopping Center on Old Kings Highway North at 10 a.m., proceeding up Brookside Road and turning left onto Post road.
Here’s who marches in what order and what takes place when in Darien’s 2019 Memorial Day Parade. Don’t forget: Darien EMS-Post 53’s Food Fair at Tilley Pond Park rounds out the day afterward. — an announcement from the Darien Monuments and Ceremonies Commission
Your Memorial Day Handbook 2019
— You can watch the parade and ceremony, starting at 10 a.m., here. Traffic and Parking
About Grand Marshal Pat Parlette
Speaker Matt Pavia
Enjoy the Darien EMS-Post 53 Food Fair
Parade Order
Organization
Notes (including officials names or leaders of various contingents)
Darien Police Dep’t Color Guard
Lieutenant John Lawlor
Grand Marshal Pat Parlette
State Representative District 141
Terrie Wood
State Representative District 147
Matt Blumenthal
Town of Darien- First Selectman
Jayme Stevenson
Town of Darien- Selectman
Pamela Sparkman
Town of Darien- Selectman
Kip Koons
Town of Darien- Selectman
Susan J. Marks
Town of Darien- Selectman
Marc Thorne
Darien High School Band
Jonathan Grauer, band director
VFW Post 6933 Color Guard
Jeff Calcott
VFW Post 6933
Lenny Hunter- Post Commander
American Legion Post 3
Commander Al Papp- ’67 Mustang & Jeep
Marine Corps League (Lock City Detachment)
Lock City Detachment- Iwo Jima Float
CT NATIONAL GUARD
Co. A- 192nd Engineer Battalion
Division 2 Leader
Lucy Berry
Veterans Affairs City of Bridgeport
Bus
Darien EMS–Post 53
5 vehicles
Darien Historical Society
Darien Historical Society: Whaleboat
Revolutionary War Actors participating
Darien Historical Society Cars
Bruce Sargent’s three Packards
Masonic Lodge- Ivanhoe #107
2 Vehicles plus float
Darien Chamber of Commerce
Darien Chamber of Commerce vehicle
John Breznen- Silverado pickup
Darien Chamber of Commerce vehicle
Tyler Roland- ‘SCARGO’
Community Fund of Darien
Harney-Pender-Keady Irish Arts Foundation
Girls will dance en-route
Darien Men’s Association
6 cars
PIVOT Ministries
2 Vans
Darien YMCA Gymnastics Team
John Schwartz
Darien Sail & Power Squadron
John Pedersen
Milford Volunteers Ancient Fife & Drum Corps
Noroton Heights Fire Department
Chief Shaun Volin
Noroton Heights Fire Department Apparatus
Division 3 Leader
Becky Siciliano
Darien School of Dance (YWCA)
Brigita Fulton
Girl Scouts of Connecticut
Sueann Schorr
Cub Scouts–Pack 56
Royle School
Cub Scouts–Pack 55
Ox Ridge School
Cub Scouts-Pack 155
Holmes School
Cub Scouts–Pack 161
Hindley School
Boy Scouts-Troop 35
Sabina Harris
Boy Scouts–Troop 53
Grant Evans
BSA Troop 219 (Girls)
Susie Flaherty
Atria Darien
Veterans
Antique Car (Williams ’28 Ford)
1928 Ford model A Roadster
Antique Car (Bealle)
Preston Bealle, 1964 Cadillac
At Home in Darien
At least two vehicles
Antique Car (Lefferts-’39 Jaguar)
1939 Jaguar SS-100 Roadster
Darien High School Girls Hockey Team
Jackie Cassidy
Maplewood at Darien
Meghan Kurtzman
Good Wife’s River Chapter D.A.R.
Beck Siciliano; Kathy Love
Fairfield County Police Pipes & Drums
Darien Fire Department Band
Darien Fire Department
Shane Smith
Darien Fire Department Auxiliary
Karen Smith
Darien Fire Department Apparatus
Division 4 Leader
Terry Gaffney
Auto- Jeep (Carper)
Meredith Carper
Darien Senior Activities Center
Joe Pankowski- 1930 Ford Model A Pickup; Ron Heinbaugh- 1931 Model A Coupe
Darien Lions Club
1947 Chrysler transporting Special Olympics
NYS Court Officers Pipes and Drums
Noroton Fire Department Band
Noroton Fire Department
John Hessmer
Noroton Fire Department Apparatus
Memorial Day Ceremony
Darien’s Monuments & Ceremonies Commission encourages all Parade participants and spectators to attend our Memorial Day commemorative ceremony which takes place in the Spring Grove Veterans Cemetery at parade’s end.
Darien High School teacher Matt Pavia will be the Memorial Day 2019 speaker on Monday, May 27 in the ceremony after the parade. Here’s the announcement from the Darien Monuments and Ceremonies Commission:
Darien is fortunate to have Matt Pavia, well-known educator and author as the Speaker during the ceremony to be held at Spring Grove Veterans Cemetery following the May 27th, 2019 Darien Memorial Day Parade. Matt is a native of Stamford and has taught American Studies and English at Darien High School since 2003. He holds degrees in English Literature, Education and Educational Leadership, and is currently working on a Master’s in American Studies. Matt and his father, Tony Pavia, are co-authors of “An American Town and the Vietnam War,” published in 2018 by McFarland & Co.
Patricia Parlette, a lifelong Darien resident and former member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps, will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 2019 Darien Memorial Day Parade. — an announcement from the Darien Monuments and Ceremonies Commission
In the 1943 Memorial Day Parade, Pat led the Darien High School Band as the first female Drum Major, so serving as the 2019 Grand Marshal brings her full circle to the Parade 76 years later. Pat graduated from Darien High School in 1943, and from Greenwich Hospital as a registered nurse in 1946. Part of her training as a student nurse was spent at Yale where she learned special care for polio victims living in iron lungs. Although her father, Oliver served in WWI, Pat was personally introduced to the military when she worked at the Tripler Military Hospital in Hawaii caring for polio patients.
Darien EMS-Post 53 will hold its 31st annual Memorial Day Food Fair at Tilley Pond Park on May 27, 2019 following the Memorial Day parade. Money raised at the Fair provides equipment and supplies for patient care; supports training, hands-only CPR and Stop the Bleed classes; and maintains ambulances. — an announcement from Darien EMS-Post 53
The Fair, a 31-year Darien tradition, begins immediately after the parade and continues until 2 p.m. featuring fun for the entire community. Admission tickets are $5.00 and can be purchased at the gate as well as outside local businesses around town prior to Memorial Day. As always, the fair will include a tasty and tempting food selection. Post members will be hard at work grilling hamburgers and bratwurst, and serving pulled pork sliders, seafood salad, buffalo chicken and vegetarian wraps, delicious desserts and more.
Tickets are on sale now for the 12th Annual Spirit of Hope Benefit — the principal fundraiser for the Liberation Programs organization. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with festive cocktails and a moving vocal performance by students from Darien High School. Guests will enjoy a delicious dinner, inspiring speakers, a lively auction and hear from some of the nation’s leading experts on addiction as they share their views on how to fight the opioid epidemic. — an announcement from Liberation Programs
The event, which takes place on Thursday, June 6 at Woodway Country Club in Darien, will raise critical funds for the life-saving treatment the organization provides for recoverees, and the outreach work it does to prevent substance use disorders in our community. Awards will be presented to some of the best minds in the field.
The town received an early Friday present today with the unveiling of a new bicentennial logo, a collaborative effort of three Darien High School juniors. “Your work will live on long after this celebration,” First Selectman Jayme Stevenson told the students after the logo was unveiled during a special meeting of the 2020 Bicentennial Subcommittee on Wednesday. “A hundred years from now, when the community is planning its next big celebration, they will look back to your work to see what was done during the bicentennial.”
Featuring a navy blue town map with a gold 200 in its center and set against a cerulean banner, the logo was designed by three high school juniors: Charlie Callery, Will Henry Harmon and Kelly Niederreither. Earlier this year, the students submitted initial designs for the bicentennial logo contest, which was organized by the subcommittee under the leadership of Sarah Lexow Keena, who is coordinating bicentennial programs for the town’s youth. West Bielstein, a graphic artist and 2014 graduate of Darien High School, worked with the students to create an electronic format of their design.
These properties recently were sold in Darien, according to records in the Town Clerk’s Office:
Editor’s note: For some reason, this article did not appear in either the Darienite.com newsletter on Friday morning or on the Real Estate category page. The article page was however, linked by a number of other accounts on Facebook. So this copy of the original page has been created and will appear on the home page while the other one has been removed from the home page. It will remain on the website, at least for a while.
—40 Phillips Lane — Robert Morris Sr. to Vijay Gautam and Priya Khanna, sold May 13, filed May 17, $735,000
—74 Stanton Road — Kirstin Cush to Michael Kustermann and Stephanie Rodousakis, sold May 21, filed May 22, $1,895,000 — PICTURED
______________________
See also:
Darien home sales:
Casement Street House Sells for $1,237,500 and Another Darien Home Sale (May 16)
Echo Drive House Sells for $1,460,000 and Other Darien Home Sales (May 9)
Stanton Road Home Sells for $1.2 Million and Other Darien Home Sales (May 3)
Darien & Rowayton Real Estate Reports:
Darien & Rowayton Real Estate Report: May 9 to 16
Darien & Rowayton Real Estate Report: May 2 to 9
Darien & Rowayton Real Estate Report: April 25 to May 2
Deirdre McGovern is a real estate agent who has called Darien home for more than 25 years. She has been involved in many local organizations. She can be reached at 203-554-0897or deirdre.mcgovern@raveis.com
Come up with a winning slogan for Darien, and the Darien Board of Realtors in the group’s slogan contest during the month of June and you can win both bragging rights and gift certificates for town businesses. “The winning slogan will be forever immortalized on the Darien Board of Realtors website [and] all Darien Board of Realtors social media — and the winner will have bragging rights that they created the catchphrase for our treasured town!” the board says in an announcement. The Darien Board of Realtors’s new website launched earlier this month. Whether you want to call it a slogan, a tag line or a catch phrase, your short and snappy phrase or sentence can be submitted starting June 1, with the winner selected on June 30.
The Pi Group (Perpetual Insights, Pi Executive and Perpetual Ambition), a Darien-based recruitment and talent advisory firm, has announced that it’s changing its name to reflect the ongoing personnel analytics services it offers. — an announcement from Perpetual
As Perpetual, the company continues to offer a full range of services, including recruitment, “talent development” and “talent analytics,” the company said in a news release. “We have evolved significantly since we first launched The Pi Group in 2013,” said Steve Morrissey, founder and managing partner of Perpetual. “Our new name, Perpetual, was chosen because it reflects the uninterrupted, never-ending insight we deliver throughout the talent lifecycle of a client,” he said. “In one word, it captures our core and our mission.”
As an overarching brand, Perpetual delivers services in three distinct areas:
—Talent Acquisition — talent mapping, executive search, and interim management: Perpetual’s core service is to map the talent market and recruit business leaders and interim professionals.
