Organizers of Newtown’s upcoming Lighthouse Festival are excited about the progress being made on a 20-foot tall, custom, interactive lighthouse being built for the event. The working lighthouse, designed by Duane Langenwalter of Thin Air, LLC, will incorporate symbolic references to the lives lost on 12/14 while shining a joyful light on the youth of this town.

The June 15 Lighthouse Festival is sponsored by Ben’s Lighthouse, an organization dedicated to long-term support and healing of children and youth in Newtown and surrounding towns. Being held at Trinity Church, 36 Main Street, the festival will feature music, artwork and theatrical presentations by local youths and adults as well as by professionals who are generously donating their time. Rooms throughout the church will be filled with activities and crafts for children and parents.

The event will run from 10 am to 4 pm. It is geared toward families, and is free of charge. A schedule of activities is available at www.benslighthouse.org.

The all-volunteer construction crew, being led by Mr Langenwalter and Larry Coleman, is diligently working to create and assemble the lighthouse. All of the materials have been donated or heavily discounted by Interstate & Lakeland Lumber, Electrical Wholesalers, Housatonic Habitat for Humanity, Sherwin-Williams, and other businesses in and around Newtown.

High School juniors Michelle Zarifis, Steve Anderau and Patrick Pierce and fifth grader Adam Bowditch were among the volunteers who recently wielded putty knifes, sanders and paintbrushes. Many of them had learned these skills on recent workcamp trips as part of the Trinity Youth Program and were happy to be able to put them to use for a good cause closer to home.

“This was fun,” said Anderau as he shook off the sanding dust before jumping in the car at the end of the day. “We’re doing this again next weekend, right?”

Donations to support the Lighthouse Festival and other upcoming Ben’s Lighthouse programs and activities are welcomed through the Ben’s Lighthouse website.