UPDATE (10:32 am): The outdoor events planned for 2023 Newtown Arts Festival have been canceled due to the impending weather forecast, according to the Newtown Arts Festival Committee. The two concerts (Red Matter tonight, Flagpole Radio Cafe with Loudon Wainwright III tomorrow night) will go on as planned.

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Congratulations once again to Diane Dutchick, who’s had one of her very cool mixed media pieces accepted into New Britain Museum of American Art’s annual juried exhibition. A retired art educator in the Newtown Public Schools district and elsewhere, Diane is one of 73 artists who will have their work on view in New Britain through October 8. We mentioned all this last week, but just in case you missed it: the opening reception and award ceremony for the 53rd annual “Nor’Easter” is this weekend. The event is scheduled for Saturday, September 23, from 12 to 1:30 pm, which means you can get to the museum, say Hello to Diane and the other artists, check out the collection, and still get back to town for some of Saturday’s Newtown Arts Festival events at Fairfield Hills.

The arts festival — in case you’ve missed all of our previous announcements, including the one this week — has its opening concert tonight, by Red Matter; and then runs full bore on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm both days. There’s also a return of Flagpole Radio Café Saturday night, at Edmond Town Hall, with special guest Loudon Wainwright III. So much to see and do, and details can be found in our Community Calendars, in print every week on page A-2 and online 24/7/365 at newtownbee.com/calendar. You know we have those calendars, right? Right??! Town board and commission meetings (and their agendas, when available), art exhibits, audition notices, children and family events, concerts and musical events, film screenings, theater listings, young adult events, miscellaneous events, and even holiday reminders ... it’s all there for you, our readers.

Want to let others know about a public event you’re planning? Easy peasy. Send an email with everything written out to shannon@thebee.com, and we’ll get your event into the calendars. There’s no charge, and the earlier you send that information the better. The online calendar shows everything we’ve been told about, and listings are posted within a day or two of our receiving that information, while the print edition usually shows about ten days of events.

Speaking of public events, Bev Bennett Schaedler is hoping to see plenty of familiar and new faces when she and Friends Of Newtown Seniors (FONS) present the Second Annual OktoberFest in a few weeks. Tickets are $30, which includes the full thematic dinner being catered by Full Bloom Catering (and I can confirm they did a wunderbar job last year!) and live music by Solid Gold Times Two. Cash bar will be operating, and while the event is returning to the gazebo at NewSylum Brewing Company, this year there’s a rain date set up just in case inclement weather also returns. Contact Bev at 203-430-0633, 203-648-6905 or msbevtoo@yahoo.com, or stop by Newtown Senior Center at 8 Simpson Street for tickets. Definitely tell Bev that Mountain sent you, and ask her to set aside some schnitzel for me.

Following up on last week’s story about Connor Kwarcinski — the Newtown High School senior who recently completed the most physically demanding and challenging course of the Civil Air Patrol Pararescue Survival Orientation Course — I’m very pleased to report that Connor continues to do good things. He is currently conducting at least his third letter writing campaign to military service members. All readers are invited to write a letter to help service members, many of whom receive little to no mail or communications from home. Through at least the end of this month, Connor is again collecting letters to be distributed through Homefront Hugs Foundation. Letters should be at least two sentences (the longer the better, however), and include a little bit of information about yourself, maybe your hometown, pets, etc. Keep politics, religion, and personal information out of the notes, but do include a photo or drawing of something positive if you’d like. Sign with your first name only, age (if you’d like), and hometown, and indicate on the bottom of the note who the note is meant for (wounded hero, deployed hero, nurse, medic, sick veteran, hospitalized vet, chaplain, tech, or even military working dog). Place each letter into a blank, unsealed envelope, and then drop it/them off at C.H. Booth Library, Newtown Community Center, or Newtown Senior Center. If you’d like additional information or would like to hand your letter to Connor directly, he can be reached at CKwarcinski@icloud.com.

For years, Newtown residents have joined people around the world in donating to Operation Christmas Child. The project through the international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse delivers those gifts, which are packaged into shoeboxes, to millions of children in need every year. Readers now have an opportunity to meet one of the recipients of those gift boxes. Tania Frenti of Romania received such a gift when she was 10 years old. Tania grew up during the last nine years of the Socialist Republic of Romania, when the government’s austerity policy made living conditions harsh and drab. Even after that regime fell, Tania reportedly faced bullying for her Baptist denomination. Her giftbox, received one Christmas Eve, contained “an explosion of color,” she has said. It was filled with plastic jewelry, scarves, and school supplies. The gifts showed her that she was not alone, and that strangers in the western hemisphere loved and prayed for her. Today Tania is a special educator in South Carolina and packs shoebox gifts every year with her husband and three children. Christ the Redeemer Church in Southbury (114 Roxbury Road/Route 67) will welcome Tania on Saturday, September 30, at 10 am. That morning she will share her story, and encourage guests to continue the tradition of filling shoeboxes with fun toys, school supplies and personal care items for this year’s holiday season. All are welcome to attend the special program.

If you can’t get to Southbury next weekend, keep in mind that Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week is planned for November 13-20. Gift-filled boxes will be welcomed at multiple drop-off locations across the state, to be announced in late October. I’ll share those details, including in-town locations, as soon as possible. For more information, call 518-437-0690 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. Participants can donate $10 per shoebox gift online through Follow Your Box and receive a tracking label to discover its destination. Those who prefer the convenience of online shopping can browse samaritanspurse.org/buildonline to select gifts matched to a child’s specific age and gender, then finish packing the virtual shoebox by adding a photo and personal note of encouragement.

Belated birthday wishes to Kay Egan, who recently reached a milestone.

Wednesday was Connecticut Day at The Big E. Were you there? Did you take any photos? Did you learn anything new about your home state that you didn’t know before entering the Connecticut Building on September 20? I’d love to see photos and/or hear stories from anyone who went to West Springfield for the day. Send them to Shannon Hicks (shannon@thebee.com) and she’ll make sure I get to see them. If you saw someone from Newtown, patronized a vendor from our home municipality, or even participated as a vendor or presenter, share your story too.

Did You Know … according to a survey done last month by StoicQuotes.com, the favorite homegrown author among Connecticut’s deceased luminaries is Mark Twain. The second and third choices, respectively, were Eugene O’Neill and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Living authors were not included in the survey, which is probably a good thing. There are so many wonderful writers in Newtown alone, I’ll never be able to curl up with all of their works never mind pick a favorite.

I know I’ll be curling up with a good book, maybe even finding something new to read during the arts festival this weekend. I hope you’ll remember to enjoy some quiet time for yourself before you come back next week to ... read me again.