In Sight

Dereje Tarrant demonstrates a floor ballet routine as he listens to Artistic Director Brett Raphael discuss auditions for the Connecticut Ballet Company’s production of “The Nutcracker” in Stamford. The Company will produce four shows this year with at least two complete casts featuring dancers from throughout the region.

Mayor Michael Pavia hovers over second base as he and his team take on the Board of Reps in the Mayor’s annual softball game at Kosciuzco Park. Bobby Valentine provided more entertainment than coaching in a game that was steeped more in comedy than athleticism.

Ryan Knapp and Nicole Dzamko are ready to ride as they wait for the annual 9-11 Connecticut United Ride which set out from Norden Industrial Park in Norwalk, Conn. More than 3,000 bikers fired up their bikes and thundered along 60 miles and 10 Fairfield County towns before ending in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park.

Christopher Gardner sits at the site where his dad’s name, Christopher Gardner, is inscribed in the memorial site at Sherwood Island during Connecticut’s annual September 11, 2001 Memorial Service.

Luca Piacenza will celebrate his 10th birthday Sept. 11. He plans on being an astronaut one day and a Navy SEAL and a pitcher for the Mets.

More than 50 kids take advantage of a stroke clinic preparing swimmers for next week’s Stamford Stingrays Swim Team tryouts at the YMCA in Stamford. This is the first club team at the Y which has finally grown enough of a program to form a roster that will range in ages from 6-18 and feature multiple levels. Ali Alnouri, a former Westhill High swimmer and major player in the development of the YMCA swim team program, will coach the team. He also serves as an assistant coach at the University of Bridgeport and will bring college level athletes to the Y for demonstrations.

Employees with Starr Tent, of Mt. Vernon, NY, assemble and raise an 80 x 200 party tent on Wednesday for Saturday’s “Stamford on the Sound” event at Commons Park. All the proceeds raised from this inaugural festival will benefit disaster relief efforts for the people of Japan.

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

Stamford looks more like ‘tent city’ this week with the Big Apple Cirus tent hovering over downtown and now this monster of a tent going up in the South End. Some say this tent is the largest ever to be raised in Stamford but Chris Starr, owner of Starr Tent, says “many would argue that.” The tent took an entire day to erect with 15 workers. It has 16 center poles, each 31-feet tall. Commons Park sits on top of a geothermal barrier so it was impossible to drive the typical tent stakes to anchor the poles. The City of Stamford and Stamford-based Building and Land Technology installed permanent ground augers which can be used for future tented events. The group of men fought the wind as they cranked down the straps on each pole. “Working in the wind is hard and getting it square is the most important part. The next step is the hardest part,” Starr said as the group began to raise the center poles.

MTA Police Officer Kevin Pimpinelli rides the escalator at the Stamford train station with his K-9 unit partner “Mullen” on Tuesday. Mullen recently won top dog honors in the U.S. Police Canine Association’s annual finals.

There’s a certain amount of intimidation that comes along with seeing a police officer and his 85 pound German Shepherd patroling the tracks at a local train station. But once you meet “Mullen” and are given the go-ahead to reach out and pet him, the fear vanishes. This K-9 team is one of fifty units that patrol the New York and Connecticut rails, roads and tunnels. “Last year we cleared 130 packages on the New Haven line alone. We know how to police a railroad,”  MTA Sgt. Bill Finucane said from their offices at the Stamford Transportation Center. “He (Mullen) saves a lot of time and gets the trains moving,” said Finucane.