You can bring donations of clothing, bedding, shoes, towels, and stuffed animals to the Sandy Hook Fire Department, 18-20 Riverside Road, on Saturday, October 3 — and any papers you would like shredded. The SHVFD Ladies Auxiliary is happy to take clothing donations from 9 am to noon, and for a $10 donation per file box or paper shopping bag, will see that your papers are confidentially shredded. (Prices increase for shredding by $5 per size of container.)

Get out your pet carriers and leashes, and don your mask! A Blessing of the Animals will take place at 9 am, rain or shine, at St Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road, this Saturday, at the Holy Innocents Faith Formation Building. Call 203-326-2333, extension 1, for more information. If you can’t get Fluffy or Fido to this blessing, take heart. Trinity Episcopal will honor St Francis of Assisi with a blessing of animals on Sunday, October 11, at noon. Bring your properly contained and/or leashed pet to the gazebo (or even just a photo). If you can bring a donation for FAITH Food Pantry, that would be most appreciated. Call 203-426-9070 for information on this event.

Take in some fresh air this coming Sunday, October 4, at the free fall concert featuring Goldrush, performing at Dickinson Park band shell from 2 to 3:30 pm. Bring your picnic goodies, blankets or chairs to place socially distanced from one another, your dancing shoes — and don’t forget a mask!

I hope you’ll stop by the Congregation Adath Israel Drive-Through Food Drive on Sunday, as well. Volunteers will meet you in the parking lot opposite the synagogue at 115 Huntingtown Road to collect donations, between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. Donations will support FAITH Food Pantry. Call 203-426-5188 with questions.

Who even knew that the Food Network had a Pumpkin Spice Product Guide? Not only does it, but we see that Dave Ackert’s Maple Craft Foods Pumpkin Spice Maple Syrup is included in it as a “must have” product, he notes on his Facebook account. Sounds like a great way to spice up pancakes on a chilly autumn morning, if you ask me. Congratulations to the Ackert family!

I believe a Good Egg Award should go to Sandy Hook’s Nick and Neasa Waaler. Nick recently ran his own ironman to benefit the CMAK Foundation, in memory of Chase Kowalski, one of 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now Neasa is running this year’s virtual Hartford Marathon to raise funds for CREC Ana Grace Academy of the Arts, in honor of Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, another victim of the 2012 school shooting. Proceeds benefit the school via donations to the CREC Foundation.

Parks and Rec is scaring up some fun with a scarecrow contest at Fairfield Hills. All are invited to adopt a lamp post on the campus for $25, build a scarecrow and attach to “your” lamp post between October 12-25. The public will vote on their favorite the next week, and winner will be announced October 30. If you are interested, fill out the application on P&R website (newtown-ct.gov/parks-recreation) and return to Newtown Parks and Recreation at 8 Simpson Street. To vote on your favorites, print out a ballot and put it in the ballot box located in the vestibule at the Newtown Community Center, 8 Simpson Street. Questions? Call 203-270-4340.

According to The Old Farmers Almanac, moonrise on October 1 is scheduled for 6:55 pm. Why do I care? Its the rise of this month’s first full moon, the Harvest Moon. The Harvest, or Hunters Moon, will peep over the horizon looking like a huge orange globe. Pretty cool! It will be shining its light for a few nights following, too. If you miss this one, mark your calendar for Halloween when the second full moon of the month spills its light over us.

I’m pretty happy to see that the C.H. Booth Library is open to the public, now without appointments! The staff and administration have done an admirable job throughout the crisis to see that bibliophiles do not go without, and to provide virtual programming to get all patrons through the immediate crisis. There are limited hours, though, to allow for thorough cleaning, and you will need your mask. You can visit Monday to Friday from 10 am to noon, and from 1 to 3 pm; then on Thursday, additional hours are from 5-7 pm. On Saturday, the library is open from 10 am to 1 pm. If you have questions, please feel free to call 203-426-4533.

The Newtown Economic Community & Development Commission and the Newtown Chamber of Commerce are promoting “Newtown Loves Local” in hopes of getting people to support our local businesses. Show your love for the many shops in town that need you, now more than ever. You won’t be disappointed. Our businesses have so much to offer!

There’s an important question coming up on the November 3 ballot for Newtown citizens. This is in regard to whether or not the town should consider development at Fairfield Hills that includes some housing. You may have caught some of First Selectman Dan Rosenthal’s excellent sessions of what that campus has been, the costs associated with it since the town purchased it, and its potential for the future at the public forums he hosted last fall and winter. A final forum was postponed due to the novel coronavirus, featuring developers interested in investing in the Fairfield Hills campus. But if you tune in to The Newtown Bee’s Facebook page on Monday evening, October 5, at 7 pm, we’ll be hosting that final conversation. What you learn may help you decide if you vote thumbs up or thumbs down on that referendum question. Can’t “bee” with us on Monday evening? You’ll find it on The Newtown Bee’s YouTube channel afterward.

The Newtown Farmers Market is still going strong on Tuesdays, from 2 to 6:30 pm, at Fairfield Hills. You’ll find lots of great Connecticut grown produce and Connecticut made products; but what you’ll no longer find there will be the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library’s book booth. With the reopening of the library on Main Street, the Friends hope you will now be able to find the books you love there, and frequent the Little Book Store where you can purchase (at super bargain prices!) books. The Little Book Store is located on the main floor of the library, near the circulation desk. The Friends are again inviting donations of books, CDs, DVDs, LPs, games, and puzzles, but only to the pod parked in the rear parking lot, and only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, between 10 am and noon. Don’t leave items there outside of those hours; they will have to be discarded if you do so.

The peak foliage season for our state is on the horizon this month. Dry weather has caused some trees to drop their leaves a bit prematurely, but we will still have plenty of beautiful leaves to admire in the upcoming weeks. Ctvisit.com offers ideas on where to view the turning leaves, or might I suggest a hike to the top of the NFA’s Holcombe Hill property where you can see far and wide?

The town is celebrating the completion of another stretch of sidewalk next Tuesday, October 6, at 2:30 pm. The public is invited to join in the ribbon cutting ceremony on the Fairfield Hills campus entrance, Wasserman Way and Trades Lane. Reservations are requested to organize refreshments. Send a note to rob.sibley@newtown-ct.gov if you would like to be there. Newtown is becoming more and more walkable all the time. If I wasn’t such a lazy feline, I’d be out there with everyone else. But the cushion beckons...

Will my column beckon you next week? Be sure to... Read me again.