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May 3, 2008 DOWNTOWN: Spring Fest all day today helps EJ's house |
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There’ll be street entertainment — a country and western band, clowns making balloon animals — the trolley-style bus will be running, and merchants will be offering promotions and sales. Downtown Ridgefield’s annual Spring Fest blossoms in the village this Saturday, May 3, from 10 to 4. But this year Spring Fest is more than fun and commerce. Twenty village merchants will be donating 10% of their sales at Spring Fest ’08 toward “A Home for EJ” — a local “extreme makeover” project that will rebuild the Soundview Road home of EJ Carfi, the Veterans Park fifth grader with a rare disorder that leaves his skin so fragile it breaks and blisters at a slight touch. “I think it’s cool that they’re doing it,” EJ said last week. “All the merchants, EJ has been taken in by them, and everybody knows him and he knows them,” said Jodi Carfi, EJ’s mom. “That means a lot to us. The town has totally embraced him. Every time you go downtown he’s always popping in and out of some store, and they love hanging out with him and he loves hanging out with them.” Organizers say merchants and business people were eager to embrace EJ’s cause. “We sent the e-mail out and in no time we had a huge response,” said Spring Fest Chairwoman Nancy O’Connell of the ‘Nancy O’ boutique. “I’ve got to tell you, the entire business community said ‘yes’ just about immediately — the response was tremendous,” said Todd Rabin of Ridgefield Hardware. Back at a midwinter Downtown Ridgefield board meeting it was Mr. Rabin who first suggested and Ms. O’Connell who immediately began pushing the idea of backing EJ’s house. “It’s a communitywide project and I think that businesses in town are a major part of our community,” Mr. Rabin said. “So therefore we wanted to just be able to give a little bit back to the project and make our customers feel good about at least knowing some of their money was going to a good cause. “He’s a great kid with super spirit and if we can make it easier for him in any way, shape or form, by any assistance, I think it’s a great thing.” Spring Fest is a week before Mother’s Day — Sunday, May 11, this year — and that seemed to fit, too. “Between EJ and Jodi, we thought that’s the cause we thought we’d support,” Mr. Rabin said. This Spring Fest is the first time the merchants’ group has dedicated one of its annual events to a charitable cause, but Downtown Ridgefield President Kathy Graham of Ridgefield Bank said supporting charity has long been part of the planning. “We’ve always tried to make choices,” she said. “At ‘Fall in Love with Ridgefield’ the pumpkins we buy are from Jesse Lee’s pumpkin patch, and the money goes to that Indian reservation they support. “The clowns that are going to be making the balloon animals at Spring Fest are also from Jesse Lee — they have something called a ‘clown ministry’ — and all the money goes to the Appalachia Service Project.”
The project “A Home for EJ” is a community volunteer effort that developed after a petition drive didn’t succeed in getting the Carfis’ house rebuilt by the national TV show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition.” The renovations planned include making the house wheelchair accessible, creating a “clean room” for EJ’s daily bandaging, and building a small saltwater pool for the soaks that soothe his skin condition. Many local contractors and construction businesses are donating time, skills and materials. There will also be a volunteers who aren’t in construction. “Between the skilled and non-skilled volunteers, there’s going to be two to three hundred, at the very least,” said Neil Hicks of Hicks Construction, who’s on the project building committee. Preliminary site work at the house begins just after Spring Fest and will go about a month. “The actual build will start the day after Memorial Day,” Mr. Hicks said. “That’s when the real full-blown thing starts, tearing down part of the house, gutting it, framing, the whole nine yards. And that is projected to finish in just under two weeks.” Original plans to work 24 hours a day have been amended. “We wanted to stay within the town regulation, which is 7 a.m. to dusk,” Mr. Hicks said. “We sort of scheduled 7 to 7, no Sundays. We don’t want to create any hard feelings in the neighborhood.” The cost, even with volunteer labor and donated materials, is projected at about $650,000. “It’s going extremely well. The generosity of the community both financially and from a work, labor and materials standpoint has been overwhelming,” Mr. Hicks said. “...We still have a ways to go, but we’re feeling comfortable that the community’s going to help us meet the goals that we need to finish the house.” Bill Craig of Craig’s Fine Jewelry, one of the founders of the Downtown Ridgefield organization, was delighted with the support for EJ’s house. “I think it was a perfect addition to the Spring Fest for the merchants to get together and get behind the project, just like everyone else in town’s behind the project — all the builders, the electricians, the plumbers, landscapers,” he said. “It’s just wonderful how everything’s coming together. And how else could the merchants help but by donating money?”
Donating merchants The merchants who’ve committed to give 10% of their Spring Fest sales to EJ’s house are Bissell Pharmacy, Orange Elephant, Liberta’s Spirit Shoppe, Squash’s Ridgefield Office Supply, Cafe Svago, Lucy’s, Hazel & Sid, Zipped, Shoe La La, Shoes ’n’ More, Ridgefield Hardware, Deborah Anne’s Sweet Shoppe, Craig’s Fine Jewelry, Cortina Shop, Piccolo Pizza, The Toy Chest, Addessi Jewelers, She-She, Nancy O Fashion and Knitting Boutique, and Tiger Sports. Some businesses are running promotions for EJ’s house. Lucy’s will have a silent auction for a $100 gift certificate and a gold necklace. Nancy O is having a silent auction for a spring fashion knitting basket and hand-knit sample, and also a group “knit a square for EJ’s House” afghan. A.J. Carnall Insurance plans a bake sale and will donate 100% of the proceeds to the cause. The Carnall building’s lobby will be decorated with artwork by EJ’s schoolmates at Veterans Park and also by a first grade class at Ridgebury School. Keller Williams is offering tattoos for kids, with the proceeds going to EJ’s House. The Joseph and Ellen Donnelley Trust will sponsor the day’s trolley bus. “I just think it’s a great way for everyone to come out and see what the stores are offering for the spring,” Mr. Craig said. |
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