Holiday Festival Returning To Museum Later This Month

WATERBURY — The Mattatuck Museum will present its 13th Annual “Festival of Traditions: Past, Present and Future” from Friday, November 28, through Saturday, December 7. The festival will focus on the rich cultural and religious traditions of the greater Waterbury community.

The festival will include a silent auction with ornaments signed by stars and celebrities, days of entertainment for school groups and organizations, fun family events, and a men’s shopping night.

The final weekend of “Festival of Traditions” will open with the “Festival of Traditions” Gala in the galleries, among the 150 beautifully decorated trees and wreaths on Friday, December 5, and continue with a weekend of community performances ending on Sunday, December 7.

This is the 13th annual event at the Mattatuck, changed to the “Festival of Traditions” to reflect the diverse cultural heritage of the area. The painting galleries will be filled with specially decorated trees and wreaths in the museum’s fine art galleries, with the galleries reflecting the theme of “Past, Present and Future.”

“The Past Gallery” will harken back to trimming the tree in the 1940s with original Christopher Radko ornaments in beautiful hues of purple. The Junior League Giving Tree in glorious reds with art from woodcarver Richard Morgan will highlight “The Present Gallery: Holidays in the Park,” with luminescent birch trees, park benches and lampposts. “The Future Gallery” will feature custom-designed ornaments designed by Sydney Renee and her towering tree of gold. The ornaments, designed exclusively for the Mattatuck Museum, will be available for purchase in the museum store.

Events throughout the week include an outing to the “Festival Tree Farm” on the museum’s third floor on Friday, November 28. Families can visti the museum, choose a tree and decorate it with ornaments from home or the festival, and then purchase or donate it to the festival event. The Arts Round Table performances during the Festive Family Party on Sunday, November 30, will include entertainment by Brass City Ballet, Kiva Dance Collective and a visit from Santa Claus.

Guy Wolff will be selling and signing his handmade pots on Saturday, November 29, from 2 to 4 pm. Mr Wolff, of New Preston, is one of the few potters in the country creating original terra-cotta pottery using traditional designs and techniques.

Men’s Shopping Night will take place Tuesday, December 2, from 5:30 to 7 pm, and will include a cash bar and free gift wrapping.

Sydney Renee will give a preview, demonstration and sale of her whimsical furniture collection, Shoesbury, on Wednesday, December 3, from 6 to 8:30 pm.

The silent auction at the gala on Friday, December 5, from 6:30 to 10 pm, will include ornaments autographed by Arthur Miller, Julia Child, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Tyler Moore, Katie Couric, Harrison Ford and many others. Other auction items include an autographed CD by Mariah Carey, DVDs signed by Daniel Day-Lewis of Gangs of New York and Last of the Mohicans, tickets to Seven Angels Theater, Shubert Theater, and Hartford Stage, gift certificates to The Mayflower Inn, La Moda Salon & Spa, original art, pottery, jewelry, antiques and various services.

The gala will also include scrumptious food and drinks reflecting the theme of “Past, Present and Future” by the museum’s Exhibition Café. Entertainment will include a clairvoyant in the “Future” gallery and local performers including the North End Middle School Show Chorus.

The highlight of the evening will be a performance by juggler Michael Moschen. Hailed as a “millennium artist,” Mr Moschen’s work has a mesmerizing, futuristic quality that takes the audience on journeys through time and space, igniting in viewers cascading parts of invention, reverie and emotion. Tickets for the gala are $125 per person.

Most programs are free with admission to the festival, unless noted otherwise. Festival admissions are $8 adults, $5 children, and groups of ten or more, $5 per person. For more information, call 203-753-0381, extension 10, or visit www.MattatuckMuseum.org.

The Mattatuck Museum is at 144 West Main Street in Waterbury. Convenient parking is available on Park Place for all museum guests.