This week in Greenwich: the East Coast Open on Hurlingham Drive, the Round Hill store changes hands after 111 years, and the pool closes for the year

Morning, Greenwich. Labor Day weekend is the town's last administrative act of summer. The Byram pool runs Memorial Day through Labor Day and then stops. The health department's beach water testing covers the land beaches through Labor Day and then only Island Beach and Great Captain's, into mid September. Meanwhile the polo club is in the middle of its most serious tournament of the year, which is a pleasant reminder that the calendar closing one door tends to leave another open on Hurlingham Drive.

Best for families this week: the Fred Elser First Sunday Science program at the Seaside Center, free and with no beach pass required, and Sunday polo, where children are welcome and the field is large enough for them to be children on.

"Your Plate Squared: Celebrating America's 250th" at the Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, 10 AM to 5 PM. The 250th anniversary shows have arrived in force this year, and this is the one about what was on the table. Ticketed, all ages, indoors. Details.

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Tai Chi at the Wallace Center, 299 Greenwich Avenue, main floor, 10:30 to 11:15 AM. Free, adults, indoors. Details.

Open Arts Alliance fall season begins at the Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Avenue, 4 PM. Free to inquire, families welcome, indoors. Details.

Knitting Knotch, 299 Greenwich Avenue, 1 to 3 PM. Three hours, no instruction promised, which is rather the point. Free, adults, indoors. Details.

Conservation Commission regular meeting, 7 PM, on Zoom. Free, adults, online. Details.

A quiet one, and the town has earned it. The Bruce is open until 5 PM, and the Avenue is doing what the Avenue does on the Friday of a long weekend.

The Round Hill Store and Service Station has left the Strain family after 111 years. Chuck Royce and his family, together with the Brumberg family, have acquired the property at Round Hill and Old Mill roads through the Round Hill Preservation Society, buying it from five sisters who are great granddaughters of William Strain. The Strains held it from 1915. The store itself has been operating since 1801, which makes the family's 111 years roughly half its life. Both buyers say they intend to keep the store and the service station running for the foreseeable future while they think about what comes next, and Royce framed the next step as a listening exercise: he wants "to hear from the community about what they want, what they need and what will work best for them." Source: Greenwich Free Press.

The Byram dog park got its first read, and the questions were about parking and loose dogs rather than the dogs themselves. The proposal converts an 11,000 square foot area along Ritch Avenue, already enclosed by a stone wall and chain link fence and sitting about 1,500 feet from the beach, at a cost of roughly $30,000, with striping and amenities funded privately. Parks and Recreation Director Joe Siciliano presented it to the Board of Selectmen, where First Selectman Fred Camillo, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin and Selectwoman Rachel Khanna raised parking capacity and the risk of dogs getting loose near a public beach. Myrna Gardner spoke for Friends of Byram Park. Khanna asked for a breakdown of annual maintenance costs and details on the Park Ranger program before the vote. A second read is tentatively set for the board's next meeting. Source: Greenwich Free Press.

Putnam, at 373 Greenwich Avenue, is reopening this week after closing in mid August over building inspection concerns. The family owned restaurant was dark for roughly two weeks. Source: Greenwich Free Press.

Greenwich Farmers Market, Arch Street and Horseneck Lane commuter lot, 9:30 AM to 1 PM. The market runs Saturdays through November 21, so there is no urgency here, only the ordinary pleasure of buying a tomato from the person who grew it. Free to browse, all ages, outdoors. Details.

The Audi East Coast Open at Greenwich Polo Club, 1 Hurlingham Drive, gates at 1 PM and the match at 3 PM, wrapping around 5. This is the club's flagship tournament, it opened August 30, and the Sunday matches are September 6 and 13. General admission starts around $32 and climbs steeply from there into the hospitality tiers. Guests of all ages are welcome, and the correct move is a blanket, a cooler and no particular knowledge of the rules. September 13 is the last Sunday of the 2026 season. Ticketed, all ages, outdoors. Details.

Fred Elser First Sunday Science: Non-Native Crabs of Long Island Sound and the Gulf of Maine, at the Bruce Museum's Seaside Center in the Floren Family Environmental Center, Innis Arden Cottage, Greenwich Point Park, 2 to 4 PM. The series runs free, with no reservation and no beach pass needed, which makes it the rare Greenwich Point program that does not require paperwork. Free, families welcome, indoors. Details.

The last day of the season at the Byram Park pool. The town runs it Memorial Day through Labor Day, and Labor Day is Monday. Ticketed, all ages, outdoors. Details.

The health department's 2026 beach water testing program also ends Monday for the land beaches, and continues through mid September for Island Beach and Great Captain's Island. Which is to say the ferry out is still the better swim for another two weeks. Details.

Nominations for the Greenwich Green and Clean beautification awards close September 15. Details.

Alexander McCall Smith is in conversation with Greenwich Police Detective Christy Girard at Dogwood Books and Gifts on September 18 at 6 PM. A novelist who writes detectives, interviewed by one. Details.

CSI Greenwich, the five star show jumping meet, returns to the polo club September 26 and 27. Details.

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