About NewCanaanite.com

Whether they’re new to town or fourth generation, New Canaan residents live with a calendar that advances less with months than with community events: May Fair to Memorial Day Parade to Waveny fireworks to Turkey Bowl to caroling at God’s Acre.

For some, the opening of the Farmer’s Market recalls the annual students-faculty kickball game at Center School. The P&Z Commission’s nod to a new business on Main Street reanimates a high-turnover commercial space we’ve yearned to see stabilized. We hold our breath in the stands during a big moment in the game on Mellick Field, and grab something to eat afterwards at the Mead Park Lodge as a family, just as New Canaanites did at the Kwik Stop 20 years ago.

New Canaan’s main drag, Elm Street, as a winter storm approaches the first weekend of February 2014 (Credit: Terry Dinan)

The font of New Canaan is etched into the sign that still hangs from our movie theater, New Canaan Playhouse, a local landmark that dedicated volunteers and the municipality itself has helped to preserve.

Understanding the sensibility of New Canaan residents, the editors at NewCanaanite.com deliver hard news in a local language, and produce evergreen features that cannot be found elsewhere. For the editors and others with ties to New Canaan, the website itself is a place to record and share, and to participate in a discussion about the town. NewCanaanite.com reflects town goings-on not only in legacy media articles and photos but also with video, interactive widgets and social media.

The content is produced by brothers Terry and Michael Dinan. They grew up in New Canaan, where their mom taught in the public schools for more than 30 years, attending Center School all the way through New Canaan High School.

Terry (pictured on the left, ca. 1975) is a NCHS Rams booster who covers sports as well as New Canaan history and other features. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications who focused on broadcast journalism, he lives in town with wife Andrea and children Gillian and Cooper.  Michael (on the right), who studied philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Oxford, is is a former Patch.com editor who covers hard news for NewCanaanite.com. He lives with his wife Marie in Stamford and their three beloved dogs (see below).

This site is very much a labor of love as well as a new small business here in town.  Please like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and email Terry or Michael at editor@newcanaanite.com with tips or suggestions.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in person soon. In case you see Michael and he’s covered in dog hair—and because we dog people love to show photos—here’s Wilbur, Louis and Russell (L-R):

Wilbur will turn 10 in July 2014. He’s on the left. Then there’s Louis, who is four—a Chow-Chow/Shepherd mix (we think). And Russell is Wilbur’s younger brother, age eight.