Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This year has been full of exciting changes for the Westport-Wadhams Community Alliance! Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to grow, celebrate new projects, and make our town even stronger.

On top of being busy organizing the Holiday Festival (we hope to see you on December 6th), here’s a handful of recent updates we’re proud to share:

History Happens Here: Partnered with ROOST and our Town Historian, we launched a new Westport History Trail that helps tell the story of Westport’s past in fun and interesting ways.
Our Flowers Plus! Committee planted over 130 lilacs, bringing more color and beauty to our bridges and streets, as well as establishing and dedicating the new Arthur Dodge Memorial Bench at Chazy Westport.
Two new mural projects, funded by a grant from AARP and Toyota, add even more art and creativity to our community spaces.
Slow with the Flow: We partnered with the Town and State DOT to implement a number of roadway and pedestrian safety improvements.
We launched a Westport Food Shelf Task Force to help support the Westport Food Shelf with long-term sustainability, increase public awareness, and provide management of food drives and four food donation baskets across town.
Get Your Walk On: We partnered with the elementary school to ensure safe indoor walking is available for seniors all winter: Monday-Friday, 6:30am-7:45am

We’ve been growing behind the scenes! With your support, we hired two new part-time staff members who are helping us do even more great work.

Meet the team:

Catherine Seidenberg, our Marketing Manager, is going on three years of excellent work helping to tell our community’s story and keep everyone informed.
Austin Martin, our new Events Coordinator, brings fresh energy and ideas to expand our public gatherings, festivals, and shared experiences.
Marisa Miller, our new Administrative Coordinator, helps organize our work and keep everything running smoothly.

We’re also sharing some important news:

After much consideration, the Alliance decided not to renew the lease of the Heritage House after 2025. The property belongs to the Federated Church of Westport, a group that has always shown great care for the community through their events and charitable work. We’re very thankful for their partnership over the last 20+ years, and we look forward to seeing how they utilize this beautiful building and central location in the future.

We would also like to express our deep gratitude to the many volunteers who lovingly cared for the Heritage House and supported countless events; to the community grant programs and generous individual donors whose ongoing contributions made building restoration and programming possible; and to the extraordinary Heritage House ambassadors who welcomed visitors, safeguarded local history, and showcased the remarkable talent of our local artists. You all make this community so special. Your energy, creativity, and dedication have fueled everything we’ve accomplished together. We’ll need that same spirit as we take our next steps.

While saying goodbye to renting the white church, we’re excited about what’s ahead. With the lease ending in 2026, our focus will turn to researching what type of community space will best serve us all moving forward, and what grants and financial resources we will need to make a new space come to life. We will also be focusing our time and money on what we do best: bringing people together, supporting local creatives and small businesses, and keeping Westport and Wadhams beautiful, safe, welcoming, and connected.

Your support makes all of this possible.

As we head into 2026, will you help us keep the momentum going? A donation of any size will help us grow programs, research a community space, support our staff, and make our community events better than ever.

Together, we can keep Westport and Wadhams strong, creative, and full of life.

With deep gratitude,
Alyssa Carroll

President, Westport-Wadhams Community Alliance
www.GoWestportNY.com

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For 2026 and Beyond