'What Do People Do All Day?' Fairfield Museum exhibit on Richard Scarry dives into author’s world

An exhibit at the Fairfield Museum lets you step into his timeless world with "The Road to Busytown: Richard Scarry's Life in Fairfield County."

News 12 Staff

Feb 9, 2023, 3:27 AM

Updated 607 days ago

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What do people do all day? That is the question author Richard Scarry posed for generations of children in his book of the same name. Now, an exhibit at the Fairfield Museum lets you step into his timeless world with "The Road to Busytown: Richard Scarry's Life in Fairfield County."
To Tammis Lazarus, Scarry was just Uncle Dick.
"Uncle Dick, he was so enthusiastic about everything," said Lazarus.
But for generations of children, Scarry's words and pictures provided a guide to everyday life.
From 1951 to 1968, the author and illustrator made his home in Westport and Ridgefield. The "Road to Busytown" exhibit at the Fairfield Museum uncovers that era of Scarry's life.
The exhibit invites visitors to grab a character and literally step into Scarry's world.
"'What Do People Do All Day?' was actually the book where Busytown gets introduced," said Chelsea Garth, of the Fairfield Museum and History Center. "This was published in 1968, right around when Richard Scarry was in Westport, so it's kind of a Westport-born story."
There are local landmarks, and small-town influences, including some impression from his time in Switzerland in the early 1960s.
The "Road to Busytown" exhibit at the Fairfield Museum will be open to the public until May 14.