Wishing and hoping to change town’s name

FALLS VILLAGE — Falls Village is, officially, the Town of Canaan.

The town that is commonly referred to as Canaan is, officially, the Town of North Canaan.

The United States Postal Service refers to North Canaan as Canaan (ZIP code 06018) and Canaan as Falls Village (ZIP code 06031).

The Falls Village (officially Canaan) website is www.canaanfallsvillage.org. The Canaan (officially North Canaan) website is www.northcanaan.org.

And the towns share a telephone exchange: 824.

Confused yet?

Falls Village Town Clerk Mary Palmer has had enough.

She has been dealing with the confusion for what seems like “every day of my life,” she said in a phone interview Friday, June 16.

She said the confusion over which town is which makes life difficult for businesses, town governments, tourists — for everybody.

“I used to laugh about it, I’m not laughing any more.”

She was introduced to the Falls Village/Canaan/North Canaan conundrum at her first conference of town clerks in 1993. She went to register and told the woman, “I’m from Falls Village.”

“No you’re not,” said the registrar.

Earlier this month, she started a petition for a town meeting on changing the official name of the Town of Canaan to the Town of Falls Village.

Palmer, working with Realtor Juliet Moore, obtained 29 signatures for a town meeting (they needed 20). But the town’s attorney, Judy Dixon, gave her opinion that the petition is invalid.

The primary reason for that is that the naming of towns is a matter for the state Legislature, not for town meeting.

Palmer has asked state Rep. Brian Ohler (R-64) to set up an “informational” meeting on the subject, where people can weigh in on the pros and cons of the idea.

Ohler’s reply, on Facebook, was positive about setting the meeting up, although as of press time no date or time had been set.