Community Invited to Christ Church Easton Tree Lighting Saturday, Dec. 4 - Easton Courier

Community Invited to Christ Church
Easton Tree Lighting Saturday, Dec. 4

A Holiday Season of Giving, Sharing, and
Community
The holiday season provides a time of community, love, and hope. But the holidays can
also be a difficult time, especially for those grieving and/or struggling financially. Debt,
poverty, hunger and homelessness have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Throughout the upcoming holidays, Christ Church Easton hopes to collect gift cards
from Stop & Shop, Target, ShopRite and others to offer its priest the means to help
those in need. In thanksgiving for all we have been blessed with, please consider
purchasing gift cards of $25 when you are out shopping and drop them at the church
office (59 Church Rd.).

Or please reach out to Rev. Ally Brundige (reverendallyb@gmail.com) if you are in need
or know someone in need. Confidentiality will be kept, though in-person drop offs or pick
ups of gift cards are required.

During December, we also will be hosting a “Baby Shower for Jesus” and ask that
diapers and gift cards be dropped off at the church to give to families in need. Unused
gift cards will given to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission.

“We at Christ Church seek to build and be a community of love in our church, town, and
world,” Rev. Ally said. “We hope by these small tokens, we might come closer together
in sharing the riches of the holiday season.”

Please join us for the tree lighting, carol sing and bonfire on Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. at 59
Church Road, Easton (rain date Dec. 5).

A Message from First Selectman
Bindelglass

Updated 11/05/2021

Good afternoon,

It has been a very busy week with the election. I want to commend the people of Easton
for one of the highest turnouts ever for a municipal election. We continue to see

increasing levels of participation by the people of Easton, as in previous referendums.
This is undoubtedly good for our town. As you know there will be recounts next week for
a Board of Finance seat and for one seat on the Board of Selectmen. The Board of
Selectmen meeting scheduled for November 4 was cancelled because it was unclear who
should be seated at the meeting. Once everything is finalized, I look forward to returning
the town’s focus to the business at hand.

On the Covid front, we stayed at five cases a week and under five per 100,000. This is
great work by each and every citizen to work together to keep all of us safe. Westport
just dropped their indoor mask mandate and are catching up to us. This is an example of
how while we are all in the health district together, the district supports our
independent decisions when they are appropriate. Information on getting vaccinated
including boosters and children 5-11 can be found at www.vaccines.gov.

The so called “one lane bridge” on South Park Avenue is due to be paved in the next few
days, and then we are only waiting on guard rails which should be up before
Thanksgiving, allowing us to open the bridge. Thanks to all for their patience. We are
happy to have this opened as promised before winter. The repaving of Morehouse Road
south of Beers Road should be finished next week.

For our seniors, as winter approaches we are happy to be reinstating the pen pal
program between Helen Keller Middle School students and our seniors. This has been a
very rewarding experience for both our middle schoolers and our seniors in the past.

In town hall we are moving ahead with a new document management system which will
first be used to help us in the new permitting process and storage of maps, etc. We hope
to get most of the town records and maps available in this cloud-based system. Many of
our neighboring towns have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs like
this, but working through the regional council of governments, (Metrocog) and our
neighboring town, we have developed software with the vendor and built the
applications with grant money so that the initial cost and licenses for the first several

years will be free. This should provide convenience and efficiency for those who are
doing work on their properties or looking for other relevant information.

We were recently informed that Easton was nominated to receive the 2021 Pathfinder
Working Lands Alliance Outstanding Group Leader Award. Elisabeth Moore from CT
Farmland Trust nominated Easton for the town’s efforts to permanently protect
Lakeview Orchard this past June in collaboration with CT Department of Agriculture,
USDA- Natural Resource Conservation Services, and CT Farmland Trust. We should be
proud of this recognition. As we have noted before, the protection of farm land is a major
part of the effort to preserve space and prevent development in Easton. It is nice to have
our efforts recognized.

In the near future the Board of Selectmen will have to approve funding for a consultant
to prepare an affordable housing plan for Easton. Planning and Zoning will set up a
committee of townspeople to assist in the preparation. There has been a lot of confusion
about this and about Public Act 21-29. One way to learn more is to listen to the last
meeting of Planning and Zoning. Of course, another is to read the actual act available at
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2021/act/pa/pdf/2021PA-00029-R00HB-06107-PA.pdf

Finally, you can listen to the forum that Senator Tony Hwang held in March including
myself and P and Z chair Ray Martin where we were all in agreement about the
importance of towns being allowed to make their own decisions. This is available on Sen.
Hwang’s website. However, it is a state mandate that the town prepare a plan for
affordable housing for June 30, 2022. This is not something that we are allowed to “opt
out of”.

There is a lot of complexity to preparing the plan because there are many aspects of our
town that would make it difficult to consider any form of affordable housing. We have no
public transportation, and it would never be profitable for the number of people that
would travel on any route through Easton. Also, we have no ability to accommodate
multiple dwelling units because of our need to protect the watershed and the lack of

public sewers.

Accessory apartments are allowed in our zoning regulations and those qualify as
affordable. This must all be considered and we want to comply as this allows us to
maintain control over all options. There will be more to come about this in the near
future.

If you did not get a chance to go (seemed like the whole town was there!), Trunk or
Treat for Halloween and the bonfire were huge successes and a great event for much of
the town to come together. Thanks to all who contributed to putting the event together
and those who set up their trunks so beautifully. We are already looking forward to next
year.

Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour tomorrow night.

Dave

Easton Lions Club Halloween Bonfire
Is Back

The Lions Club of Easton, founded on April 19, 1967, will host its 54th Halloween
Bonfire and Costume Contest on Sunday, Oct. 31, at approximately 6:30 p.m.m at
Samuel Staples Elementary School by the soccer fields just south of the school on
Morehouse Road, the same location as in years past.

The event is open to all ages and admission is free, with music, doughnuts, cider, and
apples all available at no charge. The bonfire usually towers up to 30 feet!

Many in the community have generously helped to supply items for this event: Keith
Lobdell of “Just a Song Entertainment” will provide music; Todd Bires will provide
lighting; Irv Silverman’s Farm will bring apples and cider; Tony Spinelli will supply
doughnuts; Tim McCann and Irv Silverman will supply the wood and build the bonfire,
with the Easton Fire Department, Easton Police, and the Easton EMS overseeing the
bonfire.

The “Brotherhood Knights of Gore” will make an appearance again this year, sponsored
by the Easton Park & Recreation Department, which will take place immediately
following the costume contest.

Prize ribbons will be awarded in three costume categories: Funniest, Prettiest, and Most
Original for five different age groups from ages two to adult.

For more information, contact Charlie Lynch at 203-261-0175.

Halloween Celebrations Change But
Carry On

For years now, after summer has ended, the Easton community looks forward to
celebrating fall with festivities organized by town residents. However, public health
restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic are causing major changes and cancellations
for this year’s celebrations.

The most beloved autumn event, the bonfire and Halloween costume contest, will not be
taking place this year due to capacity regulations for outdoor events to prevent the
spread of the coronavirus. The Lions Club of Easton has sponsored the bonfire for
decades, according to Charles Lynch, one of the event leaders.

   The Lions Club bonfire at Samuel Staples Elementary School is a Halloween Eve
   tradition.

“The Lions Club has been sponsoring this event for the past 75 years,” Lynch said.
“Timothy McCann and the fire department help set up these big 30-foot wooden posts
for the bonfire, and people come in their best costumes, eat snacks, listen to music and
drink cider.

“Normally we have a crowd of 300 to 400 people, but this year the max capacity could
only be 150 guests because of Covid,” said Lynch. “So, the Lions had to cancel the
Halloween bonfire.”

The pandemic has taken a toll on other autumn events this year as well. The annual
Trunk or Treat event at Samuel Staples Elementary School also had to be canceled. The
event would have been set up for people to decorate their trunks with a theme of their
choice and hand out candy to the children.

“We’ve been having it here in Easton for seven or eight years now where we typically
get around 350-400 participants, and we’re all really upset that it’s not being held this
year,” according to Danielle Alves, Easton Park and Recreation Department director.

The Easton Public Library Storybook Parade marches along Morehouse Road. —
Archive Photo

The Easton Public Library usually hosts autumn events such as the storybook parade and
Country Fair and Cow Chip Raffle that help with fundraising. The fundraising event was
discontinued a few years ago due to the lack of active Friends of the Library members,
and the book parade will be different this year due to the pandemic, according to Lynn
Zaffino, library director.

“For almost 30 years, the friends have been doing a book parade and this year we are
making it a car parade,” said Zaffino. “So, normally it would be a parade that starts a
mile up the road where children and parents dress up as their favorite book characters
and would march from the school to the library. But this year we’re encouraging people
to decorate their cars in book themes, and the kids will get goodie bags at the end of the
parade instead of activities inside the library.”

The library would normally hold an event the week before Halloween where children
trick or treat inside the library, except that this year it will be held virtually.

“Normally we would ask all of the kids from the children’s program to come throughout
the week dressed up and we would take them trick or treating around the library to
different stations,” said Zaffino. “What the children’s department is doing instead is a
Halloween program over Zoom called Zoomaween, where the kids can wear costumes if
they want, share their favorite books and listen to the librarians read Halloween picture
books for the younger kids and scary books for the older kids.”

The Easton Community Center will also sponsor Halloween events, according to Tina
Turechek, art and marketing director. Turechek said they have created fun events that
comply with Covid -19 safety guidelines to keep the community happy and safe.

The ECC Pet Halloween Costume Contest invites the community to submit photos by
   Oct. 25 for community judging on Oct. 26.

“We are going to be running a social media Pet Halloween Costume Contest, where
participants will submit photos to the Easton Community Center,” said Turechek. People
may send in their photos to be posted online and vote for their favorite on Oct. 26.

“Our preschool will be having a Halloween parade outside by class only in smaller
groups than usual, but each child participating will be dressing up in their Halloween
costume and marching around the ECC gazebo,” Turechek said. “We will be having
individual Halloween classroom parties in the preschool as well.”

The pandemic may have changed Halloween this year, but community leaders are
hopeful that the events they’ve planned will still give everyone that warm festive feeling
during such a confusing time.

“I think the main thing that I’m hoping is that although things aren’t running the way
they normally do that people will still try and find a way to participate in the events
because we are really trying very hard, and we have been ever since we were shut down
in March,” said Zaffino. “We are trying to engage with the community in different ways
with digital and virtual programs to let people know that the library is here and we’re
still offering things to the community.”

The Lions Club plans to bring back the bonfire “as big as ever next year,” Lynch said.

Lions Club Cancels Bonfire, Plans to
Return Next Year

As the Lions bonfire and costume contest can easily exceed the allowable outdoor limit
of 150 people gathered closely around the fire, tempting Covid-19 to spread, the Easton
Lions will not hold its annual bonfire this year.

“We plan to have it as big as ever next year,” Charles Lynch, Lions Club member, said.

Lions Club Has Proudly Served Easton
for 52 Years

For 52 years, the Easton Lions Club has been a vital part of the Easton community. The
club has donated more than $400,000 to various causes within the local community and
beyond.

Lions International is the largest service organization in the world with 1.3 million men
and women in 200 countries who work together to answer the needs that challenge
communities.

If your local group would like to be considered for a donation from the Lion Club, send a
written request to C. Lynch, donations chairman, 203-261-0175
or charleslynch2@optimum.net.

The Easton Lions is also a social club with dinner meetings on the second and fourth
Tuesdays of the month, plus special events nights and outings.

Mark your calendars for the annual Halloween bonfire at Samuel Staples Elementary
School starting at 6:30 p.m., and don’t miss the annual Golf Tournament.

New members are always welcome. For information, contact Jim Yeotsas, membership
chairman, at 203-374-1729 or james.yeotsas@gmail.com.

Charles Lynch is donations chairman of the Easton Lions Club.