House Tours, Tea Room, Festival Of Trees, Ballet, Theater, Music And More: Holiday Festival Returns This Weekend

The 23rd Annual Holiday Festival will take place on Sunday, December 7, from 11 am to 5 pm. All of this year’s events will be taking place along Main Street. The festival is a benefit for Newtown Youth & Family Services.

The event will offer tours of four historic Main Street homes, a gingerbread house contest, photos with Santa, a crafts workshop, The Festival of Trees, a Victorian Tea, a Holiday Boutique and a Holiday Fair, performances of Nutcracker Suite, performances of an original play, and the annual service of Lessons & Carols at Trinity Church.

Admission to most events will be by ticket. Adult admission is $15, and a family ticket is also available for $25, which covers one adult and up to four children under the age of 12 and permits entry to the houses, ballet, play, and tea and a scone at the Victorian Tea. Admission to the holiday crafts is free, but children must be accompanied by an adult.

C.H. Booth Library, at 25 Main Street, will host two Holiday Festival events, with one event being given a new presentation this year.

The Festival of Trees will actually go on display on Saturday, December 6, and will remain on view through the duration of Sunday’s activities as well. Raffle tickets will be sold both days with the winners announced between 4:30 and 5 Sunday.

Winners do not need to be present to win, but they must be able to pick up their items between 5 and 7 Sunday night or between 10 am and noon on Monday, December 8.

Also at the library will be The Gingerbread House Contest, which will be set up in the Children’s Department. Entries will need to be dropped off at the library on Saturday, and judging will take place before the festival opens on Sunday.

Edmond Town Hall, at 45 Main Street, will also host activities.

There will be two performances by Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company, who will continue its annual tradition of Nutcracker Suite in the town hall theater. Performance times are 12 and 1:30. Admission for this event is either through a full Holiday Festival ticket or can be paid for separately at the town hall box office ($5).

The theater will also host a pair of performances of ‘Twas, an original play, at 4 and 5:30 pm. Newtown High School senior Cristin Carlin has written and will direct an upbeat musical about the magic and spirit of Christmas. The cast will feature Newtown Middle School students. Admission for this is either with a Holiday Festival ticket or a $5 ticket purchased during the festival.

Family fun will be located in the gym of Edmond Town Hall and will include a professional storyteller (at 12 and 3) and holiday crafts for children.

Professional photographer Cindy McIntyre will also be on hand in the gymnasium to take pictures with Santa. These will be professional 5 by 7 pictures, at a cost of $10 per picture, to fully benefit Newtown Youth & Family Services.

The Mary Hawley Room at the town hall will host a small Holiday Boutique noon to 5:30, including a raffle of donated items as well as items for sale. And upstairs in The Alexandria Room, the Victorian Tea, which will be serving fresh baked breads, cookies, and scones to complement hot tea, will be running from 11 to 4.

Holiday Festival tickets can be purchased until Saturday at C.H. Booth Library; Drug Center Pharmacy, 61 Church Hill Road; Our Green House, 4 Washington Avenue; and Newtown Savings Bank’s Main Street and Sand Hill Plaza locations. Tickets will also be available on the day of the festival.

For additional information call Newtown Youth & Family Services, 270-4335, extension 303.

The House Tour

The locations of the homes on the walking tour and some aspects of their histories follow. Additional details about each home will be printed in the Holiday Festival guides that will be available on Sunday.

Expect lines outside each of the homes. The walking tour has consistently been one of the most popular events of every Holiday Festival, so there may be lines outside each home but house captains do their best to keep the lines moving. Please try to abide by the following guidelines.

Do not try to visit these private homes before or after the festival hours. The homeowners, who have been gracious enough to open their residences for six hours to the public, should have their privacy respected once the tour is over.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian at all times while visiting the homes. To ease on overcrowding, strollers should be left outdoors.

Use doormats before entering each home, and do not smoke in any of the homes.

While visiting these homes guests are asked not to touch any of the items inside the dwellings. Treat the homes like museums: look, but do not touch.

House captains at each of the homes on the tour will be able to answer some questions. They will also have additional information on the homes beyond what is offered here.

Local decorators and florists have been planning decorating schemes for each of the homes.

12 Main Street

Home of Deborah Munday

Decorated by Women Involved in Newtown (WIN)

This beautiful seven-gabled home began its life with a holy obligation. In 1874, toward the end of its rector’s lengthy tenure, Trinity Church built the home for The Reverend Dr Newton E. Marble.

Bridgeport-based architectural firm Pallister and Pallister designed the Eastlake Gothic-style house. The staircase, built of Georgia pine with a newel that extends to the ceiling of the second floor, is a featured object of pride in the architects’ writings.

There is also a corner fireplace between the parlor and the dining room.

The house originally had no “water closet” (lavatory facilities), but it did have a well-ventilated “earth closet” in the rear hall. Floorings boast Georgia pine also.

51 Main Street

Home of Lucy & Chris Sullivan

Decorated by Truly Yours, LLC

This property was originally part of one of the 1709 home lots of Joseph Gray. The house was built in the latter part of the 18th Century as a gable-roofed Colonial with a centered chimney. The front porch and exterior shingles probably date to the Colonial Revival period (1900–30).

In 1867 the house was one of two buildings, the second being 53 Main Street, then owned by C. Fairman. It is believed that 53 Main was built to house the married daughter of this home’s owner.

The property just to the south of this one, 49 Main Street, was originally part of this homestead. The house that currently sits on that lot was moved from across the street.

The house was recently used as a two-family home until the Sullivans purchased it in 2000 and opened up some walls, creating a single-family living space.

63 Main Street

Home of Chris & John Reed

Decorated by Linda Manna/Newtown Country Mill

This beautiful bungalow-style home was built in 1900 as the town library. The Beach family donated the land to the town. The cornerstone was laid on July 23, 1900, by John Francis Beach.

The library was dedicated and opened on December 11, 1900, and remained the town library until 1932 when Cyrenius H. Booth Library opened.

The house has a fieldstone foundation and upper story covered by a hip-roof with gables and an arched eave over the front door. A hearthstone in the house is said to have been original to the Caleb Baldwin house at 32 Main Street.

74 Main Street, “Hillbrow”

Home of Dorothy & Richard Mulligan

Decorated by Louise Neves/Floralium

A colonial Georgian house built about 1720, the blue house at 74 Main Street is a fine example of pre-Revolutionary architecture that has been restored and well preserved by current owners Dorothy and Richard Mulligan.

The house’s deed calls it “Head of Main Street” because it is located at the top of Main Street where many of the original Newtown settlers lived. Early owners called the house “Hillbrow” because of its location on the brow of the hill. They had a granite marker engraved with “Hillbrow” included in the front steps by the rock wall, which remains today.

The house has two very unusual features: rare side-by-side beehive ovens at the rear of the huge kitchen fireplace, which helps date the house, and the curved entry staircase that splits in two directions on the second level leading to the front and back halls and then continues to the third floor.