Seen and Heard in Norwalk: A family revelation

NORWALK, Conn. – Here are some items of interest that were seen or heard recently in Norwalk:

Daddy was what?

The woman who has been leading Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now (NEON) for a year and a half was talking about the “cut and dry” attitude of a new board member recently when she digressed briefly with a reminiscence about her late father.

“I didn’t know he was a Republican until he died and all of these people came around looking for him,” Pat Wilson Pheanious said.

Everyone else in the family was a Democrat, she said, but no one ever talked politics. So when her father died she was surprised by the arrival of his many Republican friends.

“It was news to me,” she said. “I should have known because of his attitudes, because of his world view, but I frankly didn’t until he died. Now I look back with greater sophistication and I know.”

Timing is everything

It’s warm out, the beach is a hot destination and the kids have just gone back to school.

Perhaps Costco is in a celebratory mood this Labor Day weekend – the store has devoted an entire aisle to Christmas merchandise.

Want a 5-foot tall snowman lit up from within by 300 lights? It will cost you $100 (they say $99.99 but let’s not quibble over a penny). Or, if you’re more inclined to take a religious perspective, a 14-piece nativity scene is the same price.

Merry, merry.

An opportunity for promotion

A woman attending the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce Beach Bash BBQ Thursday saw nothing but an opportunity in a visit from a reporter.

The reporter wanted to know what she thought of Norwalk mayoral candidate Matt Miklave.

“I’m very excited that he might come to Live Green Connecticut, which is Sept. 13 and 15,” Daphne Dixon said. “Live Green Connecticut is Connecticut’s biggest green living and family festival, it’s right here in Norwalk at Calf Pasture Beach.”

Dixon was not deterred from pressing for some press despite being told NancyOnNorwalk is pretty much devoted to municipal news.

“Well, Mayor Moccia will be there,” she said.

Dixon is co-founder and executive director of Live Green Connecticut.

Let’s play telephone

Did Andy Garfunkel get married last weekend? No, apparently not, but NancyOnNorwalk nearly started a rumor to that effect.

Again, at the Beach Bash, this reporter was talking to a man about Norwalk mayoral candidates. The man said, “Andy married my daughter last Saturday.”

Whoa! What?

Fred Wilms was surprised to hear it.

“What?!”

The initial statement was followed with the qualifier — “Andy married my daughter…”

We don’t know what Garfunkel thought when he got an email with the subject line, “Nuptials,” but we figured, in the interest of solid journalism, we should ask…

“Yikes,” he wrote. “That’s how rumors start! I officiated at a very beautiful ceremony for a couple last weekend. I appreciate you asking first. Although there is someone that would have been very happy if it were her and I getting married.”