Newtown’s Holiday Festival Returns On Sunday

By Shannon Hicks

The 19th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival will be presented at private homes on and near Main Street, Edmond Town Hall, Trinity Episcopal Church, and Newtown High School on Sunday, December 5.

As has been true for all previous Holiday Festivals, entry to most events will be through a ticket. Advance tickets are available at Family Counseling Center, 121 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6); C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street; Drug Center Pharmacy, 61 Church Hill Road; and all branches of Newtown Savings Bank.

Advance tickets are $25 for adults, or $22 with the ad printed in The Newtown Bee.

Tickets for children/students and senior citizens are $23 in advance, or $20 with ad.

On the day of the festival, tickets will be available at most event locations including Edmond Town Hall and Newtown High School. That day, tickets will be $28 for adults ($25 with the ad), $25 for children/students and seniors ($22 with ad).

Most events will run from 11 am to 5 pm; exceptions are noted.

This year’s events and their locations are as follows: Antiques Show & Sale at Newtown High School cafeteria, opens at 10 am; Fine Arts & Crafts Show & Sale at Newtown High School foyer and gymnasium, opens at 10.

After years of trying, a new event has been added. Students of Newtown High School will be featured in an art show and sale, with artists vying for a scholarship while exhibiting some of their favorite works. The student art show will open at 10 am in the foyer of the high school.

The Festival of Trees will be set up in the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street. This event is a raffle for theme baskets, decorated wreaths and miniature trees, gift items, gift certificates, etc, created by local individuals, groups, and businesses, with tickets available at one for $2, three for $5, and eight for $10. Winning tickets will be drawn at 4 pm.

A family workshop will also be at the town hall, running from noon to 3 pm. This is not a baby-sitting service. Parents must stay with their children for them to participate in crafts and other activities.

Also, there will be the Ideas Homes Tour, with Holiday Festival ticket-holders allowed entry into seven private homes with different decorating themes. The addresses of these homes and a map to their location will be available in program books being printed for the day of the festival.

In addition to the private homes, the following locations will be open: C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street; Trinity Episcopal Church, 31 Main Street (which will also be presenting its traditional service of Lenten carols at 4); Newtown Savings Bank, 39 Main Street; Newtown General Store, 43 Main Street (opening at 9 am); and Matthew Curtiss House, 44 Main Street.

Refreshments will be available this year through New England Café, at Trinity Episcopal Church’s undercroft, with pizza, muffins and similar snacks, and soft drinks, running noon to 5 pm; New England Café Too!, a new presentation at Newtown High School, featuring food prepared by NHS Culinary Arts students, also running noon to 5 pm; and Victorian Tea Room, in Edmond Town Hall’s Alexandria Room, with  homemade scones, tea breads, hot teas, and related offerings, plus live music.

Strolling carolers, who will be outdoors during the run of the event, are being coordinated by Newtown Choral  Society music director Mary Andreotta.

Live ballet is also returning this year, with students of The Graceful Planet in Sandy Hook performing at noon and 3 pm in the auditorium at NHS.

Students of Newtown Centre for Classical Ballet Studies will perform excerpts from the holiday classic The Nutcracker, also at noon and 3 pm, in the Edmond Town Hall theater.

Free shuttle bus service will be running between all Holiday Festival locations.

For ticket purchases and additional information contact Family Life Center at 426-8103.