A Port Chester dad swam the English Channel for the Sound. A Rye couple gave $2 million to the Nature Center, Rye Brook cut the ribbon on a new outdoor gym, Port Chester got a new “micro-café”, and Playland just had its best year since the county took over. We have a packed edition today.

Let's get into it.

⭣

Playland drew 320,708 visitors this year, up from 235,210 in 2025, and brought in $3.49 million in admissions revenue, nearly triple last year's $1.31 million. The Dragon Coaster ran the full season until an electrical fire damaged it Sept. 19; repairs are planned for 2027.

Sue and Ed Wachenheim have lived in Rye for more than 40 years. This week, their foundation gave $2 million to build it a bigger one.

The gift, announced Monday by the Friends of Rye Nature Center, funds a 4,500-square-foot education center (to be named the Wachenheim Center for Environmental Education) and launches a "Living Legacy Campaign" for further improvements, including a new driveway to the Rye High School lot. Program use at the center has grown 66% since 2019; more than 50,000 people visit each year.

"My appreciation for the importance of protecting nature began as a child," Wachenheim said. "If a child plants a tree, there will be one more tree in the world."

Westchester's first National Fitness Campaign Fitness Court, in Harkness Park, hold its ribbon-cutting Oct. 5, according to the village's own announcement. Mayor Jason Klein and sponsors MVP Health Care and Sunrise Senior Living were slated to cut the ribbon. "The village is thrilled to provide this free outdoor Fitness Court Studio for our residents," Klein said.

The studio is planned to host yoga, Zumba and Tai Chi classes; the equipment outside is open to anyone 14 and up. It's a free, year-round fitness option open to everyone! 🏋

Here's a number that stopped me: 15.5%. That's Port Chester's tree canopy, the lowest of any municipality in Westchester County, the countywide average is around 55%.

The flip side is pavement. Port Chester is also the most paved-over village in the county, at 57.9% hardscape. Together, that's why a 2022 Hunter College study found Port Chester's summer ground temps running 13 degrees hotter than the county average, second-hottest of 43 municipalities studied. Village Hall has known this since 2012, when the first call for a tree law went nowhere. There's a tree inventory (2018) and a management plan (2019), but still no law covering trees on private property, a homeowner can take down a big backyard tree with no permit and no replacement required.

Resident Jim Brill laid this out in a public comment letter this week, timed to the Comprehensive Plan workshop at the Carver Center. His ask: adopt a tree law (Croton-on-Hudson's 2025 version is a ready template), publish the plan Port Chester already paid for, and start measuring canopy loss every five years instead of talking about it for fourteen.

Read the full letter here

More than 1,000 people across Port Chester, Harrison, Rye, Rye Brook, and Greenwich get the Sound Shore Dispatch each week. They're local business owners, decision-makers, and engaged residents: the exact people you want walking through your door. And right now, they don't know about you yet.

We run one sponsor per issue — so when it's your week, you have the whole neighborhood's attention to yourself.

Ready to introduce yourself? Email [email protected] and I'll send everything you need to get started.

Harrison's football team shut out Randolph Campus 21-0 on Oct. 3. The Huskies keep rolling.

Rye's boys soccer team improved to 11-0 Oct. 6. They beat Byram Hills 4-0 on the road.

Rye field hockey clinched the regular-season league title this week. The team beat Ursuline to do it.

Greenwich's Conservation Department hosts a free renewables roundtable Thursday, Oct. 8, at Town Hall. Representatives from New Canaan, Ridgefield and Manchester will share how their towns cut energy costs.

Rye holds its last public input session on the Gagliardo Park overhaul Oct. 8. City Council members and the Rye Recreation Commission will meet at the park at 5:30 p.m. with design renderings, aiming for a "shovel-ready" renovation plan.

I'd been curious about Jane Foodie since I first heard the words "micro cafe." Jane Carroll's new Port Chester spot sells fresh food that's flash-frozen, and I wanted to see how that works. Three days after she opened, I stopped by. Jane was clearly busy, but she still sat down with me and walked me through what it took to get here.

The plan started at the old Wells Fargo building in downtown Port Chester. She signed the lease in May 2025, shortly after her line of from-scratch, flash-frozen meals won best outstanding new product at the Specialty Food Show in New York City, which also helped her land a pitch on Shark Tank.

Even though the building needed rezoning, the village zoning board approved it in two weeks. "I've never seen a village more excited," she said. She figured she'd be open by October, but six months passed and not a single permit had been released. In January 2026, Jane finally found another place, still in Port Chester, that, in theory, was missing very few items to be fully functional. Unfortunately, that was far from the actual situation. The tile was cracked, and the floor was soaking wet. None of the drains worked. The "ready-to-use kitchen" was sitting on dirt (code doesn't allow a kitchen on dirt), so a foundation had to be poured. There was mold on the walls, the toilets didn't work, and most of the lights were out.

"All I was told was that it was an operational, fully intact kitchen, and it became a nightmare," she said. After so much trouble and stress, Jane was finally able to open her cafe, and what a nice place it is.

The kitchen is completely open, so you watch the food being made and see who's making it. "I like full disclosure, and I think people are interested in the process," Jane told me. Everything is cooked from scratch, down to her own seasoning, then flash-frozen and reheated when you want.

The front of the room feels like a living room. The vintage furniture and art are for sale. Jane wants people to stay awhile, and she's planning a day pass for anyone who needs a place to work. She's also lining up baking, cooking and flower classes. Further out, she wants to open an incubator kitchen where new food entrepreneurs can develop their own products and start a podcast for them. Isn't that great?

Thank you, Jane, for your time and for that ginger-lemon tonic, it was delicious. Our villages need more people like you, people who see the beautiful old buildings on our main streets and are willing to bring them back to life. I hope village and county officials take note. Opening a small business today is a grind, and it shouldn't be this hard.

Where - 6 N Pearl St, Port Chester, NY 10573

Scared by the Sound Haunted House.
Playland Park, 1 Playland Parkway, Rye.
Weekends, Oct. 9-31.
ryerecord.com

Tom Papa at The Capitol Theatre.
149 Westchester Ave, Port Chester.
Friday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m.
thecapitoltheatre.com

"Changing the Subject: Two Artists Explore New Directions," by Marion Schneider & Sherri Paul.
Harrison Public Library, 2 Bruce Ave, Harrison.
Through Nov. 7.
harrisonpl.org

Rye Brook Fall Leaf Collection begins.
Village-wide, Rye Brook.
Starts Oct. 13, runs through the third week of December.
ryebrookny.gov

Greenwich Renewables Roundtable.
Town Hall Meeting Room, 101 Field Point Road, Greenwich.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 7-8:30 p.m. (also on Zoom/GCTV).
greenwichfreepress.com

Greenwich Policeman's Ball — 130th Anniversary.
Riverside Yacht Club, Greenwich.
Saturday, Oct. 17, 6:30 p.m.
greenwichfreepress.com

Drew Nemetz trains in Long Island Sound. Saturday, that training got him across a different body of water entirely.

The 44-year-old Port Chester resident, who co-owns Alpen Pantry in Old Greenwich with his wife, Frannie Willsey, entered the water at Samphire Hoe on England's coast and came out 14 hours and 16 minutes later at Cap Blanc-Nez in France — a roughly 21-mile crossing, and the Channel Swimming Association's 92nd solo success of the year.

Nemetz raised more than $20,000 for Save the Sound, the nonprofit that fights for the water he trains in every day.

"Accomplishing this swim was very meaningful for many reasons," Nemetz said. "The conditions were difficult, but my crew and friends helped me get through it."

Peter Linderoth, Save the Sound's director of healthy waters and lands, watched him finish: "It was amazing to watch Drew power through everything he encountered during a grueling crossing."

☕ I make it at home, every day
🥐 I have a regular café I go to
🔄 Wherever's closest when I need it
🚫 I don't drink coffee

👉 Vote here

Last edition's poll results: Which Sound Shore town do you call home?
• Rye Brook — 47%
• Port Chester — 35%
• Harrison — 6%
• Rye — 6%
• Greenwich — 6%

If this landed in your inbox through a forward, welcome! — you can subscribe here. And if something in here makes you think of a neighbor who'd find it useful, pass it along. That's how this thing grows 🙌🏻
Have a story to share? A suggestion to make this newsletter better? Just reply to this email.

See you next Thursday!