Ridgefield Sisters Abby and Emily Talk with Town Leaders, Discover True Meaning of CommUNITY

Editor’s note: two awesome (and fun) sisters Abby and Emily took over my job on Friday and taught me a few important lessons:

Eat more ice cream. When you are going to meet your First Selectman, bring him a scoop or two. Be compassionate. Take time out of your day to thank a Ridgefield police officer. Laughing during work helps the day go faster. French fries are not only tasty, but they can also help you think creatively. Always have a writing and editing buddy (Abby and Emily had each other, I had Sara Hecht). 

Thank you to Deborah Ann Backes, Ridgefield Police Chief Jeff Kreitz, and First Selectman Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield is special beyond measure.

Emily and Abby are HamletHub Editors for the Day!

Friday, June 11th, Emily (12) and Abby (10), both students at Ridgefield Academy, joined the HamletHub team as Editors of the Day! Their journalistic endeavors began at Deborah Ann’s Sweet Shoppe where they learned about the goings-on of the store and how to make chocolate and ice cream! They continued on to Town Hall where they chatted with First Selectman Rudy Marconi. Finally, they walked from Town Hall to Ridgefield Police headquarters where they spoke with Chief Jeff Kreitz. 

The day starts sweet, Emily and Abby meet Deborah Ann Backes, the owner of Deborah Ann’s Sweet Shoppe 

The girls sat down with the one and only Deborah Ann Backes (who they so eloquently referred to as the Town’s Willy Wonka) and asked:

Q: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

That’s a tough one, it kind of changes but I think overall, my favorite ice cream is Toasted Coconut! 

Q: What do you like better: chocolate or ice cream? 

Oh my goodness! Can it be a tie? It depends on the time of year. In the summer I like ice cream better but in the winter I like chocolate better. How about ice cream with chocolate in it! Like our English toffee ice cream which has our English toffee in the butter ice cream. 

Q: How do you come up with the names for ice cream flavors?

Some names we do come up with if we are creating the flavor but many of the names just come along with the classic flavors like Cookies and Cream and Swamp. Some flavors, like Cannoli, we named “Holy Cannoli” just for fun because I say that a lot. Also, we have “Lucy’s Lemon Pie” which is one of my favorites right now. That one is from an auction that we did – they come up with the flavor and they name it. “Lucy’s Lemon Pie” is like a refrigerator lemon pie so we came up with a way to make that and we just loved it! It has graham cracker crust mixed in – my favorite!

Q: Who taught you how to make chocolate and ice cream?

My husband [Mike] and I have this business together, he works here too. We met in law school in New York City.  We were living in NYC when we decided to make chocolates. He took many courses - making chocolate is very hard! And, it’s not about chocolate, he learned about caramel toffee. It is a little bit like chemistry because it has to be exactly right to be the right hardness – it is very technical. Mike traveled all over and met with people. He did that while I was still working [as a lawyer]. 

Mike came up with the recipes which we would make in our little apartment in NYC!  I would take them [the chocolate, toffee and caramel] into work and I’d ask which batch they [my colleagues] like better. We did this for a while. It was really fun! 

And, the Ice Cream?

We learned how to make the ice cream from Mr. Shane. Mr. Shane’s was an ice cream shop down around the corner and he supplied our ice cream. When he decided to retire, we began making our own ice cream. We had such a good relationship with Mr. Shane so I could ask him to add more of this or that to the ice cream and he would make it for us.

His recipes live on. We’ve tweaked some because we started adding a lot of our own candy. The “Mint Patty” has our own mint patties, the “English Toffee” and “Coffee Toffee” have our own toffee in them. Original flavors include the new “Pride” flavor for the month of June which has gummy skittles and colored chocolate chips. 

Why gummy skittles? 

We talked with the Pride group and they liked the idea of skittles but we couldn’t do regular skittles because someone would break a tooth when they froze so I looked to see if they made gummy skittles and they did! Part of the profits from ice cream this month will go to the Ridgefield Pride group. 

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Abby and Emily head to Town Hall to interview First Selectman, Rudy Marconi 

And, they didn’t go empty-handed! Abby and Emily brought Rudy Marconi a healthy scoop of Pride ice cream (which he happily ate during the interview).

Q: What is your favorite ice cream flavor? And are you a chocolate or candy person? 

Strawberry. When I was your age there was really only vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. 

Q: What is your favorite place to go in town? 

Gosh, there are so many of them! For theater, we have Theater Barn, ACT of Connecticut and Thrown Stone. The Ridgefield Playhouse always has good music – it’s really unbelievable. I was actually called up on the stage with Martin Short and he interviewed me! 

The restaurants are all good! I was talking with Congressman Himes yesterday and explaining to him how many restaurants we have and the reason why we can have that many different restaurants (and them be successful) is because of the arts and culture we have in our town. People come here to enjoy the different venues whether its music, acting, artwork at The Aldrich, or history at the Keeler Tavern. We are just very stepped in all of that kind of culture and it’s great and it helps everyone – the retail, the stores, everyone. 

Q: What is your favorite summer event in town? 

CHIRP! A free concert! I mean where can you go to get anything free today, right?! So that’s really nice. We couldn’t have fireworks last year, but we will hold our Town July 4th fireworks this year! Fireworks are fun, carnivals are fun, we missed the Memorial Parade this year but next year it will be bigger and better!

Q: How long have you been the first selectman and what do you want your legacy to be?

I was elected in 1999 so 21 years. In terms of legacy, I want the town to be in as good a shape as it can be. We created Bennetts Pond Park and worked on the schools (which we are making the last payments on this year). Now, we need to look at some other buildings like our police and fire station. The police and fire departments do so much work together. We are going to build one building and both will be within this one building. 

Q: What is the most expensive and least expensive project in Ridgefield?

The most expensive thing we’ve ever done was the school's project, the bundle, back in 2001. That was $134 million dollars. We built Scotts Ridge Middle School, we put the student union at the High School, we added 100,000 square feet to the high school, we renovated East Ridge Middle School, and we added an addition onto Barlow Mountain. You want to know the least expensive? Gee whiz, there is a lot of little stuff that goes on. We buy little $5 dollar items at Ridgefield Hardware or products for the maintenance of downtown Main Street.  

Q: What does Ridgefield need the most improvement on? 

We need to improve Main Street – the last time we did that was in 1985. We are going to start at Governor Street and go all the way to the library. We are going to redo the intersection Prospect Street (where you go into CVS) and line them up to allow for a quicker cycle of the traffic lights. This is going to start in July. Eversouce is going to do electrical upgrades.

Thank you to the Ridgefield Police Department! Abby and Emily Talk with Chief Jeff Kreitz 

After discussing the potential new station, it was only fitting to visit Chief Kreitz up at the historic Ridgefield Police Station. Inside, the girls got a tour of the Dispatch Center, Booking Room, and Holding Cells, as well as a look inside a police cruiser. Emily even got to sound the siren and lights!

Q: What was your path like as a Ridgefield native to becoming police chief here?

I worked traffic control when I was 20 and I did that until 23. I got a conditional offer of employment as a police officer here and I was in the academy at 24. I knew I wanted to do it, that is why I started doing the traffic work. I was a volunteer fireman in Ridgefield too. I knew I wanted to do public service. I wanted to be a police officer, more specifically a police officer in Ridgefield because it’s my hometown. 

Q: Where did you go to school?

I went to Farmingville, East Ridge, Ridgefield High, and Western Connecticut State University. I worked all through college too. I was a lake patrol officer for the Candlewood Lake Authority, I did traffic control, and I also worked for a builder in town so I had three jobs while going through college – which kept me busy. I got my degree in Justice and Law Administration. 

How did you meet your wife?  Proposal story?

STAY TUNED! This is special!

Following their three interviews, Emily and Abby headed to Prime Burger for buffalo chicken, fries, and most importantly, to compare notes! Finally, they headed back to HamletHub headquarters to grab a quick soda and get down to work! (OK, they did chip some golf balls and sneak in a basketball game (full of sisterly love). 

 

 

R
Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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