By Andy Brophy

WESTPORT–One of the biggest block parties in Connecticut returns to Westport’s Saugatuck neighborhood on Sept. 26.

The 14th annual Slice of Saugatuck Festival covers a half-square mile in Saugatuck and will feature a total of 40+ restaurants and retailers, seven live bands, two outside beer gardens and activities for kids, such as a giant slide, face painting, four bouncy houses and a balloon bender. Cub Scouts also will make s’mores in Luciano Park, the site of the giant slide.

“It’s always exciting to see this event come together for the community,” Matthew Mandell, the festival’s founder and executive director of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce, said in a press release. “This is many people’s favorite event of the year.”

“Where else can you just walk the streets with your kids, friends and neighbors and enjoy what an entire neighborhood has to offer?”

The festival, to be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., typically draws 2,000 people and was started in 2011 as a way to promote Saugatuck businesses, Mandell said.

“It was an area that needed help back then to get people to notice there were restaurants,” Mandell said in a phone interview. He said he thought, “Why not have people come and experience food tasting at all different venues, realize they were there and come back and enjoy the place?”

After founding the festival, Mandell, a District 1 Representative Town Meeting member, handed it off to the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce and is now the Chamber’s executive director.

The festival is bounded by the Westport / Saugatuck Metro North train station, Riverside and Saugatuck avenues. “It’s easily a half a square mile, if not more,” Mandell said. “It’s all encompassing.”

Westport’s Saugatuck neighborhood is a census-designated place and covers 1.86 square miles of land, compared to 20 square miles of land for the town of Westport as a whole.

Bands playing at this year’s “Slice” include Otis and the Hurricanes, Silver Steel, Mill River Band, Elana Zabari, Accidental Breakdown, and The Outsyders. Local singers/songwriters will perform in the parking lot of Little Pub at Dunville’s.

A dozen non-profits in Westport will be at the festival to promote what they do and hand out food, according to the press release.

Parking for the “Slice of Saugatuck Festival” is free at the Westport train station.

Tickets are $15 for an adult, and $5 for kids from 6 through 12 years old. Kids who are 5 years old and younger can attend for free. Tickets go on sale on-site 10 minutes before the festival starts and only credit or electronic payments will be accepted.

Beer vendors, who also will have wine, will take cash or credit, and many restaurants will offer specialty drinks and hold a happy hour after the event with discounts on food and drinks.

The “Slice of Saugatuck Festival” has donated $60,000 from past festivals to the Gillespie Center’s food pantry, according to the press release.

Helen McAlinden, executive director of Homes With Hope, said in a press release that the festival “is a unique event that helps fill our pantry and supports the most vulnerable with food insecurity in our community.”

“We thank the Chamber and all the merchants for their support in putting on this wonderful festival that highlights a gem of Westport,” McAlinden said.

The rain date for the festival is Oct. 3.

For information, call the Chamber of Commerce at 203-227-9234 or e-mail Mandell at matthew@westportwestonchamber.com

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.