Exhibition
The Road to Busytown: Richard Scarry’s Life in Fairfield County
| October 7, 2022 — May 14, 2023 |
“The pigs, cats, bears and other characters in Scarry books are not animals, they are real people living normal lives”
Illustrator Richard Scarry wanted his books to not only be educational, but fun! Scarry’s beloved Busytown was created while he lived in Westport, and teaches children about how communities work: what people do, the transportation they use, and the places they go. Fairfield Museum’s interactive, engaging, and family-friendly exhibit, “The Road to Busytown: Richard Scarry’s Life in Fairfield County,” will have visitors young and old drawing connections between their personal experiences in their community, Scarry’s fictional Busytown, and those of the Scarry family during the time they lived in Westport and Ridgefield.
Learn more about how Scarry’s life and work in Fairfield County inspired his illustrations of Busytown through rare family photographs, original illustrations and sketches, and personal accounts from son Huck Scarry, and enjoy interactive areas, a reading nook, and a scavenger hunt for Lowly Worm!
This exhibition was developed in collaboration with Huck Scarry. The image above is Copyright © 2022 by THE RICHARD SCARRY CORPORATION AG. RICHARD SCARRY is a registered trademark of The Richard Scarry Corporation AG.
Exhibition Supporters
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of Fairfield Rotary, Random House Children’s Books, Bigelow Tea, The Denise Walsh Team – William Raveis, and Connecticut Humanities.
Works on View
Original Illustration for The Chipmunk’s ABC, 1963 From the Collection of Huck Scarry
This illustration showing “Z for Zipper” is from the last page of The Chipmunk’s ABC Little Golden Book, written by Roberta Miller. The chipmunk is zipping up his jacket to go outside. What do you put on to go out?
Scarry Family sailboat, the Hispaniola From the Collection of Huck Scarry
Shown here is the Scarry family’s sailboat, the Hispaniola, an Interclub Dinghy. This photo was taken in September of 1962 by Peter Barlow of Wilton, CT.
Original illustration for Danny Beaver’s Secret, 1953 Richard Scarry (Illustrator) From the Collection of Huck Scarry
Danny Beaver’s Secret was written by Patsy Scarry and published by Little Golden Books in 1953. Richard and Patsy worked on a number of books together, with this one done while the family was in Ridgefield. In fact, there is a reference to their home on t
Christmas card to the Rehill family from Richard Scarry, c. 1960s. Courtesy of Tammis Rehill Lazarus
The Scarry family made local connections while living in Westport, including the Rehill family from Darien. In the main exhibit, you can see a photo of Sean and Tammis Rehill and Huck on the floor, playing with toy cars. On display here is a Christmas car