Best wishes Laura Cole! Laura was celebrated a few months ago by longtime employer Newtown Savings Bank for reaching an amazing milestone — 40 years of working with this town’s oldest financial institution. Early last month she agreed to be featured in our Snapshot column. This weekend she steps into a very exciting chapter: retirement. My very best wishes for a long and happy retirement filled with fun and plenty of time with your grandbabies, Laura.

Meanwhile, if the name of this week’s Snapshot person sounds familiar but you just can’t figure out why, it may be because Jason Lynch was recently announced as the artist behind the 2026 Newtown Arts Festival signature art. Jason was kind enough to stop by the office last week, when he shared some fun facts about himself for this week’s column.

A reminder that flags should be lowered on Sunday from sunrise to sunset in observance of National Fallen Firefighters Day. Many firefighters and families from across the country will be in Emmitsburg, Md. this weekend for the annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. Fire stations, private homes, memorials, and even businesses across the country have been hosting red light displays since last Sunday, part of the annual Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters observance. That continues through Sunday, coinciding with this year’s Memorial Service.

Bruce the Spruce has been observing Afternoon Tea Month, as his latest outfit celebrates. We shared some of our favorite mugs for his outfit, all but one featuring bumblebees. The lone non-bee mug highlights something equally appropriate, however. If you can’t tell from the photo, the mug that’s second from the right is a Scrabble mug. We’re wordsmiths, so of course we love Scrabble (and Boggle, every Monday morning after our Editorial meeting, in fact). We also love the fact that amazing game was developed (developed, not invented; there's an important distinction) right here in Newtown by longtime resident James Brunot. You knew that, right?

Lynn Remson returned from vacation this week and promptly got to work pranking her pals in Editorial. Lynn, who works in our Production department and often has a hand in creating the costumes for Bruce the Spruce, sent an e-mail Monday afternoon to one of our editors and one of our reporters with the subject line “Looks like the Duck Race has been rescheduled. May need to update calendar listings.”

Well, once Shannon Hicks and Sam Cross worked through their respective moments of panic, they confirmed that everything we’ve printed this year, including online calendar listings, does in fact have the 2026 Great Pootatuck Duck Race listed for Saturday, June 13 at Heritage Park. Tickets for the Sandy Hook event went on sale a few weeks ago, still priced at $10 each, and with 20 prizes to be vied for next month. Local Lions Club members plan to be in front of Yankee Wine & Spirits on Queen Street this Friday between 5-7 pm; and then in front of Newtown Hardware, 61 Church Hill Road, on Saturday between 9 am and 1 pm. Next weekend’s plans show Lions in front of Hawleyville Liquor Store, on Barnabas Road, on Friday from 5-7 pm; and then outside Bagel Delight on Church Hill Road on Saturday, May 9, from 9 am until noon.

The only thing that will change this year’s Duck Race date would be very heavy rains ahead of or on June 13. Should that happen, the race will be postponed to June 14. We’ll keep you posted if that needs to happen, of course.

American Press Institute published findings this week following a new in-depth study by The Media Insight Project. After speaking with adults and teens as young as 13, the study had some mixed news concerning local media. “Local news remains widely used and positively viewed, yet the pathways to it vary substantially by age,” API said April 29. “Adults 65 and older are more likely than some younger age groups to rely on local news outlets such as TV, radio, or newspapers, while teens ages 13-17 are more likely than older adults over 65 to get local news from local influencers or independent creators (48% vs 23%).

“Despite these differences, adults and teens across all ages tend to view local news outlets as effective at covering important issues and verifying facts,” the report continued. That works for Newtown’s hometown newspaper! Nearly 150 years into this important work we do, we are still dedicated to reporting all things Newtown, correctly and without bias (except our editorials, of course, which by definition share an opinion). We’ve said it before and we’ll continue to say it as long as the doors at 5 Church Hill Road remain open: Thank you readers!

In last week’s column I mentioned a few things that would be observed on May 1 — the long-standing tradition of May Day as well as Connecticut’s “springiest” day, at least according to the travel company Exoticca. I missed two very important observations, however: School Principals Day and School Lunch Hero Day! Thank you to anyone currently serving in either position or who did so previously. Principals and school kitchen staff all have multiple challenges, and I admire anyone who can wear those shoes.

Someone is certainly planning ahead. We had our first call at the office this week from someone looking for details on one of the town’s largest annual holiday events. It wasn't the Labor Day Parade, either. It was even further into the future. I'm impressed. Apologies to that person, however — the call was dropped during the transfer from the front desk to its intended recipient, so we weren’t able to help you, but if you’d like to call back and check in, we’ll try again to help.

I hope you’ll remember to call on me next week around this time when it will be time to … read me again.