He spent winters at his home in Florida and enjoyed summers at the lake house waterskiing.
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In his younger years, he enjoyed snow skiing, snowmobiling, ice skating, working on his race car, restoring his grandfather’s house, antiquing, flea markets, and equipment auctions. Ken was a member of the New England race association and drove the number 33 car on Saturday nights at Danbury Race Arena. He was involved with Boy Scout Troop 63 for many years. He was the proud father of six children, Richard Jackson of Southbury, Clifford Canfield (Diana) of Danbury, Richard Canfield (Angie) of Monroe, Susan Kerigan of Monroe, Nancy Cardinale (Ken Serke) of Sandy Hook, and Lori Traisci (Mark Locorotondo) of Botsford 15 grandchildren 19 great-grandchildren (two due in August) and several nieces and nephews. He leaves behind his loving wife of 33 years, Anita Canfield. He was predeceased by his mother and father, John and Ethel (Blakeman) Canfield, and his brother, Charles Canfield, of Monroe. In 1948, he started Canfield Construction & Landscaping, a legacy company that has served his hometown for the last 72 years. Born August 28, 1927, and raised in Monroe, Conn., he attended Monroe school and later went on to attend Bullard Havens for Mechanics. Now I wish I had recorded more - but thankfully we have some of his stories on tape and I am blessed to have the great memories of having him as a dad.Kenneth Blakeman Canfield, age 93, of Southbury, passed away at home on July 22. I'd heard them a million times, so I rarely ran for a recording device. I tried to get him on camera another time near the end of last summer but he said, "can't you just record my voice without me on camera?" I said, "Okay, let's hit the play button and talk about the good old days." Many a cocktail hour he would tell stories about the wonderful times he had growing up on Lake Kenosia and his memories of the Fair. For me, it was an opportunity to finally get my dad's perspective on the Fair and Racearena.
DANBURY RACE ARENA DRIVER
But when Irv's nephew, Rich Hutwohl, a SNYRA driver (#22) at the Racearena came around saying he wanted to do a show about the racing days at the Danbury Racearena, it was an opportunity we could not pass. From there, he would look out over the water and see the casino-riddled skyline of Atlantic City, where he was born, moving back to Danbury, CT before the age of 5.įor this documentary project about the Fair, Irv had been there and done that. Each morning Irv would get a paper, coffee and a donut and drive 3 miles south down the road to where the road meets the bay. I learned the craft of documentary filmmaking by working with him and we had lotsa great talks at the end of a video shoot. In latter years he passed the "directorial" torch on to me. In 2006, my dad and I moved to South Jersey where we began doing environmental and community-orientated documentaries. After retiring from WPIX in 1979, Irv began free-lance directing for IBM and Pepsi and then embarked on several independent documentaries: "The Great Danbury State Fair," "ACOT, The Golden Years of Racing." "Come Fly With Me - The Connecticut Model Airplane Club" and "NEMA, Celebrating 50 years of Racing." Irv also raced Midget cars well into his 70's throughout the Northeast. At one point Irv was directing multiple shows at one time for metromedia TV, including "The Magic Garden," "Time for Joya," and the creative force behind the original holiday "Yule Log." His wife Connie, an extremely talented actress, played many lead roles in local and regional theatre while studying acting in New York City.
DANBURY RACE ARENA TV
He and his wife Connie, kids Kara and Kirk, moved back to CT in 1963 where Irv became a TV Producer/Director for WPIX in NYC. He was a DJ at WLAD, served in the Korean War where he also did some DJ work and then began his directing career in Ohio directing live TV.
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In high school Irv led a Big Band jazz orchestra as a drummer and performed weekends all around Danbury and at Peach Lake. Irv's mom, Isabel, also worked at the Fair for many years in the Main Office by the entrance to the Bigtop. Leahy and helping to create the Fair's unique and endlessly entertaining atmosphere. Irving Jarvis Sr., worked at the Danbury for decades and many years as the Assistant GM of the Fair working alongside owner John W. Born into the entertainment industry, Irv grew up on Lake Kenosia just a couple miles from The Great Danbury State Fair - the fairgrounds often his playground. He was not crazy about being on camera he was always more comfortable behind the camera directing as he had been directing most of his life. Irv was consulting on this documentary and thankfully we have an interview with him from last summer and another from 2009. Some folks called him Charles, but he went mostly by Irv. This documentary project is dedicated to Charles Irving Jarvis Jr.