The Rye Garnets did it again — a seventh-inning comeback on Sunday sealed their second straight Section 1 Class AA title 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. Meanwhile, the Rye development moratorium is unresolved and heading back to council Monday. And in a special MarketWatch story: What is the significance of another historic family business disappearing?

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Down to their final strike in a must-win, the Rye Garnets rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to beat Mahopac 5-2 on Sunday, May 31, clinching the Section 1 Class AA Championship for the second consecutive year. Jackson Pineault delivered the decisive blow, a bases-clearing three-run double to left-center with two outs. Mahopac had crushed Rye 12-0 in Saturday's first game to force a rubber match. The Garnets answered by finding another gear. They advance to the state regional tournament.

The Rye City Council adjourned the May 27 public hearing on the proposed six-month development moratorium without a vote, and when it reconvenes Monday, June 8, the proposal will be narrower. After more than two hours of public comment, the Council amended the draft to exclude single-family and two-family homes outside the B1 and B2 downtown zones. The remaining targets, multi-family buildings of six or more units, projects in the central business district, and development on the Rye Country Day School campus, stay in play.
June 8 is when residents get another chance to speak and the Council may finally vote.

Why it matters: six weeks into the process, a moratorium that was framed as urgent still has no resolution. Projects waiting on applications are watching closely.

Playland Park opened for its 98th season on May 23 with the Dragon Coaster running again for the first time since 2024, but the attendance data from last year underscores how much ground the historic Rye amusement park still has to recover. In 2025, just 213,000 people visited Playland. Before the pandemic, the park regularly drew more than 500,000 visitors: 460,000 in 2018, over 508,000 in 2019. Revenue tells the same story, $2.1 million in 2025, compared to $10.36 million in 2019.

The collapse traces directly to the Standard Amusements era. The for-profit operator took over in 2022 on a 30-year contract but left abruptly in January 2025, citing inadequate infrastructure investment by the county, after drawing far fewer visitors than projected. An arbitration panel found Standard had defaulted on the contract, but still ruled Westchester must pay up to $36 million in damages. The county inherited a park with only 14 of its 42 rides operational when it took back control last Memorial Day.

This year, 90% of children's rides and 80% of adult rides were running at opening. County Executive Ken Jenkins sat in the first car on the Dragon Coaster.

The park is now free to enter, visitors buy wristbands instead ($27 for adult rides for residents, $20 for Kiddyland). Whether that model can rebuild the crowds Playland needs to matter again is the question worth watching this summer.

I'm really enjoying putting this newsletter together for you, and I’d love to welcome more friendly faces to our community. If a friend popped into your head while reading today’s stories, please forward this to them! It only takes five seconds, but it means the world to a local project like this.

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Greenwich High School has its 2026 commencement speaker: former NFL All-Pro John Sullivan. The longtime long snapper and Greenwich resident will address the Class of 2026 at the June 18 ceremony. Sullivan is an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, and one of the most decorated players in the history of a position most fans never watch.

Harrison's Planning Board meets Monday, June 8, with a full agenda of items deferred from the cancelled May 26 session. Among the items: the Osborn expansion, now under stormwater review. Residents can attend at Harrison Town Hall at 7pm.

Port Chester is a certified Pro-Housing Community, and it's paying off. The state certification unlocks access to up to $750 million in discretionary funding. The $10 million grant that made Westchester Crossing possible was directly tied to that status. Other certified Westchester communities are competing for the same pool.

Rye is hosting a Juneteenth Cemetery Restoration project on Saturday, June 28 — volunteers will restore grave markers at the African American Cemetery. Sign up at ryetownny.gov. It's the kind of community stewardship that doesn't get enough attention.

Rye Brook Day Camp registration is closing in. All forms, including medical documents, are due by June 20. Camp runs July 6 through August 14.
Details at ryebrookny.gov.

I know it's the second time I'm writing about a Japanese restaurant, but what can I do if their cuisine is simply delicious?

Hinoki, at 363 Greenwich Avenue, is the kind of place that earns loyalty fast and keeps it. Owners K. Dong and Chef Steven Chen — the team behind Miku Sushi in Greenwich and Kumo Sushi Lounge in Scarsdale — built a concept around Izakaya, Japan's tradition of relaxed, shareable small plates, and brought in Manhattan talent to develop the menu.

The space is three distinct areas: the main dining room, a private omakase event room for exclusive chef's table experiences, and an outdoor terrace on Fawcett Place. The bar program, Pecan Wood Smoked Negroni, a Passion Fruit Mojito built for a summer evening, is one of the better ones on the Avenue, and after 8pm the room shifts into something livelier. CTBites called it simply a place "that needs to be on everyone's list."

Worth knowing: 363 Greenwich Ave, Greenwich. Open for lunch and dinner. Reservations: 203-900-0011 or OpenTable.
The dim sum brunch program runs on weekends.

Zachys Wine & Liquor, Port Chester — The Scarsdale wine institution, family-owned since 1944, has consolidated all operations into a massive new facility at 30 Midland Ave in Port Chester. The new 3,500 sq ft retail area carries more than 7,000 wine and spirits SKUs. Billed as the largest wine-shipping facility in the Northeast.

Continental Wine & Spirits, Greenwich — After a car crashed through the storefront of 58 William St. in January, owner Corey Fine spent months rebuilding. As of late May, Continental is fully back open — new front wall, new picture window, original neighborhood feel.
Hours: Tue–Sat 11am–7pm, Sun noon–5pm.

Westchester Magazine Wine & Food Festival, June 4–9 — The region's biggest culinary event runs through this weekend, with tastings, chef demos, and dinners at venues across Westchester. Several Sound Shore restaurants are typically featured. Check westchestermagazine.com/wff for the full schedule.

6th Annual pRYEde
Where: Rye Town Park, 95 Oakland Beach Ave, Rye, NY 10580
When: Saturday, June 6, 3:00pm
More info: pryede.org

Greenwich Police Department Benefit Car Show
Where: Greenwich Town Hall, 101 Field Point Rd, Greenwich, CT 06830
When: Saturday, June 6, 10:00am–2:00pm
More info: greenwichct.gov

Devo
Where: The Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave, Port Chester, NY 10573
When: Tuesday, June 9, 8:00pm
More info: thecapitoltheatre.com

Harrison Town Hall Community Meeting
Where: West Harrison Fire Department, West Harrison, NY 10604
When: Wednesday, June 10, 7:00pm
More info: harrison-ny.gov

Gary Clark Jr. with Nat Myers
Where: The Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave, Port Chester, NY 10573
When: Friday, June 12, 8:00pm
More info: thecapitoltheatre.com

Glenville is one of those Greenwich neighborhoods that doesn't get much attention from the rest of town. It's on the western edge, past the Point of Rocks, where Glenville Road bends toward the Westchester border and 15,000 cars a day funnel through an intersection that, for decades, had no sidewalks, misaligned signals, and cars parked haphazardly on the shoulder in front of Glenville Pizza.

That changes now. The Glenville Corridor Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Project — seven years in the making, funded by $6.5 million in Connecticut DOT money, under construction since March 2025 — is in its final weeks. New sidewalks have been laid along the full 1,500-foot stretch from Glen Ridge Road to Weaver Street. New traffic signals are nearly activated. Improved intersections are in. Overnight paving closures are scheduled for June 21–25, and then the project is done.

The spot in front of Glenville Pizza where cars parked on the slope for generations is gone, replaced with a widened curb, grass, and picnic tables. There's proper parallel parking just to the west.

The timing isn't coincidental. DeCicco & Sons, which has been under build-out at 21 Glenville St. — the former Stop & Shop that closed in 2023 — is nearly complete as of this week. The neighborhood that lost its full-service grocery three years ago is about to get a new one, and a safer, more walkable street to reach it on, more or less simultaneously.

"I'm excited to see this project coming together," Selectwoman Rachel Khanna said at the May 28 Selectmen meeting. "It's been a long time coming."

This week's Market Watch isn't about bedrooms and bathrooms. It's about what a piece of real estate means, and what it means when it's gone.

I found out about Freccia Bros when I was looking for a mechanic with expertise in classic cars and I've been following then, since then. In August 2025, the Freccia’s were evicted. Not because the business failed. A family trust dispute that began after the death of Frank "Skip" Freccia Jr. in 2018 wound through Connecticut courts for years. Skip's wife Theresa, as executor of the estate, won possession of the building. Her son Frank Freccia III and granddaughter Guinevere, who had worked in the shop since she was a child, lost their appeals all the way to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

The white building at 246 West Putnam Ave. has been one of the most recognizable structures on Route 1 in Greenwich since 1922. That's when Giuseppe Freccia, an Italian immigrant and stonemason from Cosenza, poured the foundation. His sons Frank and Gene opened Freccia Brothers Garage, painting horse-drawn carriages before the road out front was even paved. Over the next century, the business worked its way through the Depression, World War II, the Volkswagen craze of the 1960s, the 2008 crisis, and COVID. Four generations of Freccias turned the shop into the tri-state area's most respected air-cooled Volkswagen specialist, with collectors shipping cars from across the country to get them right.

"Our business did not fail; we were forced out," Guinevere wrote when the eviction came. "We poured our hearts, our pride, and our lives into this little shop. We wish we could stay."

The family launched a GoFundMe, $250,000 goal, to find a new home, and the community showed up. Greenwich residents, VW enthusiasts, and strangers across the country donated. The Freccias have promised to rebuild somewhere. The legacy, they say, will drive on.

The building itself — the white garage with Volkswagens in various states of repair visible through the windows, the wooden floors, the wall of parts that seemed frozen in time is now listed for sale. On a commercial block on Route 1, it will become something else. I was reading the comments on Greenwich Free Press Facebook page, and people are really sad about this.

View Listing here
$4,995,000 - 18,730.8 building sqft. - 0.43acres
246-248 W Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830

How would you describe your financial footing on the Sound Shore right now?

💪 Solid — we're doing fine and feel stable
📈 Stretched — costs keep rising faster than income
🏡 House-rich, cash-thin — equity looks good, the bills hurt
📦 We're thinking about leaving — it's getting hard to justify
🔄 It comes and goes — some months better than others

Vote here!

Last week’s poll results: What does "home" mean to you on the Sound Shore?
🏘️ The town itself — 43%
🌳 The quieter pace — 43%
🏫 The schools — 14%

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