Letter to the Editor: Old Fashioned Barn Raising

To the Editor: 

Anyone walking or driving by Park and Elm Streets early in the evening last Saturday witnessed the closest thing I have ever seen to an old-fashioned barn raising. "A barn raising in downtown New Canaan?" one may ask.  Yes, albeit a modern version of such.

Years ago, neighbors would gather together and help build a fellow community member's barn. The work was long and hard, but with many helping hands the barn would be built, the farmer would have a place to safely store his crop and the community would further prosper. That is a very similar effort to what I witnessed while the Kilbane family were helped by so many of their friends, neighbors and former employees as they moved their New Canaan Toy Store to it's new location on Park Street. Seeing all of those folks traveling around the corner on Elm Street with Walter Stewart's shopping carts filled with toys, shelving and hardware was just such a sight to behold and further demonstrated to me why this community is such a special place to live and work in.

Welcome to the neighborhood New Canaan Toy Store.

— Rob Mallozzi III, Bob's Sports, Inc.

Editor's note: The Mallozzi family owns the storefront now occupied by the New Canaan Toy Store.