If Christmas Is Just Around The Corner, So Is The Newtown Holiday Festival

By Shannon Hicks

The 2006 Holiday Festival will take place Sunday, December 3. Most events of the festival are returning, some have been scrapped altogether, and one major element of the festival will take place a few months down the road.

Laura Miller Kurtz and Layne Lescault are the co-chairmen of this year’s event, the 21st annual festival.

Heading the festival’s planning from the position of chairman is not new territory for Ms Kurtz. She was the lead chairman for the 2005 Holiday Festival, and co-chairman with Leslie Troy, for the 2004 event.

This is Mrs Lescault’s sixth year of being involved in the planning of the festival. In previous years she has been the committee chair for the Festival of Trees, an event that has alternated as a silent auction and a raffle event, with small artificial Christmas trees, wreaths and centerpieces decorated for the holidays, as well as a large collection of theme baskets from local businesses, groups and individuals.

She has also worked on the ads for the programs that are handed out during the festival. This is her first year as the festival co-chair.

Those who enjoy the Festival of Trees can start looking forward to this year’s offering. Mrs Lescault will once again be working with Girl Scouts, whom she credits as giving “a lot of help” in the past.

“It’s one of their service projects, and they really put their heart into it,” she said.

A Victorian Tea will be back in The Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, with teas and scones on the menu and live music by local musicians.

In the town hall’s auditorium, ballet will also return, as will an antiques show in the building’s gymnasium.

The biggest draw to the festival is the tour of homes, and that’s still on the ticket this year.

“We have four homes already promised,” Mrs Lescault said. “There are three on Main Street and one on Mt Pleasant.”

An arts and crafts show, which was not part of last year’s festival, will not return again this year.

“We really want to focus of the day to be on Main Street, and there just isn’t a large enough space for arts and crafts,” Mrs Lescault said regretfully. “It’s a shame. That was a popular event.”

Gala To Be In March

For 20 years the festival has been the single largest annual fundraiser for Family Counseling Center, a not-for-profit agency begun in 1983 to meet the changing needs of individuals and families in the greater Danbury and Southbury area through counseling, support groups, education, and referral services.

It was announced earlier this year that the counseling center will merge as of July 1, 2007, with Newtown Youth Services, creating a new agency to be called Newtown Youth & Family Services, Inc.

The biggest change this year is the shuffling of the Holiday Festival Gala, a black tie event traditionally held on the eve of the festival, to March.

“Newtown Youth Services usually has its gala dinner dance then, so the counseling center will join them in March,” said Ms Lescault. “This way we won’t be planning two galas almost back-to-back.”

She also sees the postponement of the formal event as a stress reliever for some of the volunteers who have been involved in planning the December event in the past.

“Postponing the gala should release a little bit of the stress from volunteers, and it will still do well when it’s held later on,” she said.

Volunteer Opportunities Aplenty

While many of the committees for the 2006 Holiday Festival have already been formed, there are still openings on many of them.

“We always have volunteer opportunities,” Mrs Lescault said, “especially on the day of the festival. We’re also looking for committee members.”

Committees covering each of the events — the antiques show, Victorian Tea, programs, House Tours, etc — can always use help.

For the day of the festival, there is a need for house captains (people to answer questions about each property as well as to keep an eye on the flow of visitors through each house at any time), transportation, putting up and taking down signs and fliers, and too many to mention here.

Contact Mrs Lescault, 270-6481, or Family Counseling Center (426-4874 extension 21), for full details.

Holiday Festival committees meet every other Wednesday. The next meeting will be on November 8. Contact Mrs Lescault for details including time and location.

Festival tickets will be going on sale in a few weeks. Prices are traditionally a few dollars lower in advance, but plenty of tickets are always available on the day of the festival.

Additional details about the festival will be offered in upcoming issues of The Newtown Bee.