21st Annual Celebration This Sunday—

The 2006 Holiday Festival Is Just Days Away

 

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.

The largest draw to the event is expected to once again be the walking tours of historic Newtown homes, which will be open from 11 am until 5 pm. Holiday Festival planners had originally been looking at four homes for this year’s event, but a fifth house has been confirmed.

Local decorators will be showcasing their talents in the homes, which will have house captains on hand to share historic backgrounds and answer questions. See the front page of this week’s Classifieds/Real Estate section for a preview of the homes on this year’s tour.

An antiques show will be presented in the gymnasium at Edmond Town Hall from 10 am until 5 pm. Approximately 20 dealers are expected to participate.

Admission to the antiques show is included with a Holiday Festival tickets, or $5 for the show alone.

The town hall’s auditorium will also host a performance of the ballet Nutcracker Suite at 12:30, and a screening of How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) at 3 pm. Admission to the ballet performance is free for those with Holiday Festival tickets, or $5 without a Holiday Festival ticket.

The performance will once again by offered by The Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company, the official ballet company of Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet and its Artistic Director Jennifer Johnston. Ms Johnston will narrate The Nutcracker Suite, a 45-minute version of the full-length ballet, and will invite children in the audience to meet her dancers following the performance. Young audience members will be allowed to see the costumes up-close, check out the “growing” Christmas tree that is a central part of the staged production, and even try a few ballet steps.

Admission to the movie is $5 for everyone. Proceeds from the ballet and the movie will all benefit Family Counseling Center.

“Either of these events will offer something for parents and kids to do together,” Ms Lescault said of the ballet and film.

Another offering for the family is the Children’s Workshop, running from 1 to 3 pm at the town hall. Photos with Santa and opportunities to make arts and crafts will be the focus of this event.

Also at the town hall will be a Victorian Tea in The Alexandria Room, with teas and scones on the menu and live music by local musicians.

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

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

“The Festival of Trees is coming together tremendously,” Ms Lescault said last week. That event will be set up in the lower meeting room of Booth Library, with bidding from 11 am until 4:30 pm.

Winners will start being announced around 5 and while winners do not need to be present when their names are called, they do need to be available to return to the library either by 7 pm Sunday or between 10 am and noon on Monday.

One new element to the festival will be The Giving Tree. An artificial tree to be placed in the lobby of Edmond Town Hall, The Giving Tree will have paper snowflakes hanging from its branches, and the snowflakes will have different denominations that can be donated to Family Counseling Center. The tree has been part of the Festival Gala in the past, but the gala is being reconfigured this year and will be held a few months down the road.

Additional Events

While not officially part of the Holiday Festival, there will be additional offerings for folks of all ages on Sunday afternoon.

Trinity Episcopal Church will present its annual Advent Lessons and Carols service at 2 pm.

Newtown Choral Society will present its annual holiday concert, this year to feature Conrad Susa’s “Carols and Lullabies” in Spanish and English (among other offerings) at 4 pm. Tickets are $9 and can be purchased at the door.

Also, Newtown Historical Society will have the Matthew Curtiss House open from 10 am until 4 pm. From 1 to 4, special guests Frank and Sandy Navone will be displaying and carving some of their wooden folk art Santas.

Presale Tickets

Until December 1, tickets can be purchased at their presale price: $23 for adults, $18 for children and seniors. Tickets are available at Family Counseling Center, C.H. Booth Library, Drug Center, and The Little Green Barn; Newtown Savings Bank branch offices in Newtown, Bethel, Danbury, Monroe, and Southbury; Union Savings Bank locations in Newtown and Bethel.

Day-Of Tickets

On the day of the festival, tickets will increase to $25 for adults and $20 for children and seniors. They will be sold at Edmond Town Hall and C.H. Booth Library.

Family Counseling Center, at 121 Mt Pleasant Road, can be reached at 426-8103 for advance tickets and additional information.