pulled from my experience in Southern California, and the farm part goes right back to my youth growing up in Iowa.” Paul Burmeister adds, “Annie and I had moved from Iowa to Philadelphia to Los Angeles before, but going from L.A. to Connecticut was the first time we had made a move as a family of four. Our son Ben tried out for a baseball team the first
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week we moved, and the parents of that team were our first friends, welcoming us into the group right away. Both boys made friends quickly at school and that paved the way for us to settle in. The exclamation point for us has been Annie’s relationship with Wakeman Town Farm. Her connection to that place and their people has meant as much to our happiness here as anything.”
(Paul seems to have zeroed in on the key to settling in anywhere: Happy wife, happy life!) Kristy Gordon, owner of The Hair Genies, moved from the city to Westport and then to Weston a few years ago. “We wanted to build a house and found great land at a good price,” she explains. To settle in, she joined Weston Women’s League. “It was a great way to meet other people,” she says. George Venizelos, who grew up in Manhattan, comments about raising his son, Greg, in Easton and Weston: “There is this Zen-centered calm compared to growing up in a major city. You can always live in the city later.” His wife, Michele, was fighting cancer when they moved out of the city. Becoming actively involved with the EQUUS Foundation helped George settle in during a tumultuous time. Sadly, Michelle passed away in 2008. Venizelos, now a Westport resident, kept giving back and went on to sponsor Moffly Media’s Light a Fire contest for six years. Laura Maged was attracted to the artist scene in Westport. She got involved by sitting on the board of the Westport Arts Center for eight years. Kelly Coveny, chief innovation officer at Milk advertising agency in SoNo (as well as an author, singer and poet), grew up in Greenwich but lived in Chicago, London and New York before venturing back to Connecticut. “We rented in Westport initially,” she says, “because I wasn’t sure it would work not being two blocks from everything. We had the warmest reception when we moved onto our street. Half our neighbors came by with cookies and said hello. Westport is such an arts-centric place and full of individuals doing creative things. It’s the closest to New York without being in New York. It was an adjustment, but I don’t miss living in the city at all.” The Covenys do family overnights in New York a few times a year to soak in the culture and museums there.
WESTPORT ARTS CENTER BY LILLIE FORTINO PHOTOGRAPHY
The Westport Arts Center exhibits works by local and internationally renowned artists.