Good morning. ☕ This is your Thursday, July 23, Rye Record newsletter, curating some of the latest headlines across the city of Rye.

Today’s Weather Channel local forecast is sunny with a high of 78 degrees. ☀️ Check out the forecast for the rest of the week here.

Even a little bit of rain these days is making it harder for Rye and other Sound Shore beaches to remain clean and open.

Dry-weather contamination, the baseline sewage leakage that once made waters unsafe even on sunny days, has fallen sharply across the board. But wet-weather pollution has become significantly worse.

July 2026 has been anything but dry, and area clubs have felt the effects. About 2.25 inches of rain accumulated in the first week of July, peaking with Fourth of July thunderstorms. Then, another round of storms hit this week, including a tornado watch Tuesday and another 1.25 inches of rain in a 24-hour span.

Flooding became a problem during both weeks, leading the county health department to temporarily close Coveleigh Club’s beach, along with multiple beaches in Mamaroneck and New Rochelle.

Whenever it rains, stormwater runoff is particularly bad in developed areas with significant impervious surface coverage near a beach and in the nearby lands that drain to it.

Rainfall cannot penetrate hardened surfaces like roofs, driveways, streets, sidewalks, and parking lots. Instead, it cascades into catch basins and storm drains, carrying along fertilizer, pesticides, oil and fuel residue, tire debris, and fecal bacteria.

“Expanding the use of green infrastructure — rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, constructed wetlands — is a critical step toward reducing stormwater runoff,” Peter Linderoth, director of healthy waters and lands for Save the Sound, said in a May statement. “The more stormwater can be filtered or diverted before reaching the sound, the more water quality will improve.”

Click here to read Jessica Maricevic’s full report.

-Today’s newsletter is curated by Chris Marshall

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IN OTHER NEWS

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH. The Rye City Council is considering a local law that would allow police to reside in counties outside of Westchester, broadening the city’s hiring pool. A public hearing is set for Aug. 12. — Miranda Ferrante

LOOSE LEAF. In the first month of Rye’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, police issued 78 summonses. How will landscapers and residents adapt long term? Conversations with communities that implemented bans years ago provide a glimpse at what to expect. — Lilienne Shore Kilgore-Brown

BONJOUR. Maman will open its Rye location today, marking the French-inspired café chain’s first foray into Westchester County. Located at 64 Purchase Street, the former home of the Snackery, maman will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

THE RYE FINDER. Test your RyeQ with this Rye-centric word search puzzle. This week’s challenge is to find the names of seven words associated with flooding. Answers run vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. Complete the puzzle by midnight Friday for a chance at prizes.

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FROM OUR PARTNERS

COMMUNITY

Kelly’s Sea Level, an Iconic Rye Restaurant, Celebrates 50 Years

For half a century, Kelly’s Sea Level has been much more than a place to grab a char-grilled cheeseburger or a pint of Guinness. Many consider it Rye’s communal “living room.”

“People have come into the restaurant, the bar, and the store for generations,” said longtime owner Jerry McGuire. “We’ve known the parents, grandparents, children. … We’re all part of Rye and kind of all grew up together. We’re all part of the same family, I suppose.”

McGuire first walked into the tavern as an 18-year-old part-time bartender, left to serve in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, and returned in 1976 to buy the historic building along with his wife, Martha.

The building itself carries a legacy of structural and cultural adaptability that mirrors the McGuire family’s deep roots in the community, a history the owner has spent recent months meticulously documenting as Kelly’s quietly approaches its 50th anniversary.

— Jessica Maricevic

Rye High School Alumnus Conquers the World’s Top Marathons in 12-Month Span

Few runners finish all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors — even fewer do so within a calendar year.

When Ian Tibbals crossed the finish line of the London Marathon in April, he became part of a select group to achieve that feat. The 2019 Rye High School alumnus finished the Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York City, Tokyo, and London marathons — all within a 12-month span.

While earning the prestigious six-star medal is impressive enough, Tibbals completed the World Majors while juggling full-time coursework and research as a doctoral student in organic chemistry at Yale.

With a cumulative time of 15:23:19 across the six 26.2-mile races, Tibbals is the second-fastest runner on record for ages 25 and under, averaging roughly 2 hours, 34 minutes per marathon, or under six minutes per mile.

— Ariana Ottrando

POLICE & FIRE

Rye First Responders Rescue Fawn Trapped in Storm Drain

When Lynne Jordal Martin heard a bleating from her bedroom, she had no idea where it was coming from. After peering into a storm drain, she realized a small fawn had gotten trapped.

She called Rye Police, who teamed up with the Department of Public Works and Rye Fire Department to free the fawn.

“We were originally going to try to grab it from down in the storm drain, but the way that it was positioned, it wasn’t possible,” said Rye Fire Department Lt. Ryan Iarocci. “And luckily, they didn’t do that, because right behind the baby fawn in the storm drain was a raccoon.”

The gentle stream of water, along with the presence of the raccoon, seemed to be enough motivation for the fawn to flee the drain, ending the two-hour ordeal.

“They were creative in solving the problem,” Martin said. “They didn’t give up, and it was really impressive.”