Date: Fri 04-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Manna-Baxter-Shannon-Festival

Full Text:

The Holiday Festival Is Just Days Away...

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Preparations for all facets of the 13th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival were

all but completed by the various organizing committees this week, and by

Sunday, December 6, Newtown will once again become a holiday town.

From 10 am to 5 pm, there will be events to attract the attention of all ages,

including a children's workshop, house tours of four private homes and three

additional buildings/businesses, an antiques show and sale and a crafts show

and sale (in separate locations), a Festival of Trees, the New England Cafe

and the Victorian Tea Room, and musical performances at a number of locations,

among other events.

Linda Manna and Diana Baxter, both of whom live in Newtown, have teamed up

once again to coordinate the crafts show this year. Mrs Manna is co-owner of

Newtown Country Mill, and Mrs Baxter is a full-time artist.

The two ladies were responsible for the show in 1996. Linda has been working

on the show for the last five years. After working on the show two years ago,

Diana took one year off, but returned to co-organize the show with her friend

this year.

Both women are also involved with facets of this year's house tour... but more

of that later.

The craft show is always a strong attraction of the Holiday Festival. This

year's show and sale will be presented in the cafeteria at Newtown Middle

School. Admission to the show is free of charge, whether visitors are holding

Holiday Festival tickets or not (admission to some of the festival's events

are for ticket-holders only).

According to Mrs Baxter and Mrs Manna, the crafts show this year will be a mix

of repeat vendors and new participants. There are 17 vendors this year, less

than half the number that were included in last year's event.

The smaller number is indicative of the fact the show is being presented in

the middle school's cafeteria rather than the double-size room of the school's

gymnasium, where it had been presented in the past, or divided between two

different rooms.

"The vendors this year are all from Connecticut," Diana said. "We keep it

small, and we've juried it.

"We have some good stuff coming, we were very picky... No pinecones with

eyeballs!" The show will feature vendors with jewelry, wood crafts, art and

dolls, among other items.

"We purposely kept it smaller this year because when we had two rooms [the

show last year was divided between the gymnasium and the cafeteria], people

did not follow the signs to the second room, which was not fair to the vendors

in the cafeteria. So this is new for 1998: we're keeping it small, with good

crafts all in one room."

Diana will be manning her own booth at the show on Sunday, which will not only

give showgoers the opportunity to visit with one of the show's co-chairs but

also have one of the organizers on hand for the vendors should something

unexpected develop.

Newtown Country Mill, Linda's shop, is going to be represented by her

daughter, Michelle Ferris, and Patty Ann Cain, who works at Newtown Country

Mill. Linda will be working at the shop all day.

Michelle and Patty Ann will have a booth set up in the Mary Hawley Room at

Edmond Town Hall (the small room to the immediate right of the main entrance).

The Mill's displaywill not only offer visitors a selection of crafts

representing the Route 302 crafts shop, but the ladies will also be able to

remind visitors of the full craft sale going on at the middle school.

Additional Help

For The House Tour

Linda and Diana are also involved in the Holiday Festival's House Tour, one of

the biggest draws to the festival every year. BethAnn Fetzer, one of the

festival's co-publicity directors, recently said she was impressed at the

amount of work Linda and Diana were putting in behind the scenes.

"It's always so nice when people go above and beyond," Mrs Fetzer commented.

Diana's contribution to the house tour was finished months ago, before it was

even announced which homes would be open to the public this year. The home of

John and Jennifer Shannon, at 10 Currituck Road, was the site of some work by

Diana this past fall.

For the foyer of the Shannons' home, Diana was commissioned to paint a mural

of a country scene which included the Currituck Road house as it originally

appeared. Diana worked during September from a 1930s postcard Mrs Shannon had

of her home, and designed a scene that incorporated the house.

"It's a very primitive country scene, with colors of that era because she

wanted to match the colors of the house," Diana said last week. "She wanted it

to look as it appeared about 200 years ago."

The mural was one of the first ones Diana was ever commissioned for, and the

Shannons have been more than pleased with the outcome.

"We live, obviously, in an old home," Jennifer Shannon said this week. "There

was a wall in the hallway that needed something special painted on it to bring

out the historical aspects of our home. She did a reproduction of the house

from a portrait we have on file. It's a portrait that was done before any of

the additions were added on."

Diana painted a very similar mural on one of the walls of Newtown Country Mill

last year. It depicts what Newtown could have looked like two centuries ago,

with farmhouses, animals and rolling hills.

The mural in the Shannon home is similar, Mrs Shannon said, except it does not

incorporate as many animals. Instead, the Shannons' mural includes a horse and

buggy, a few farmhouses of its own, and the centerpiece of Newtown's historic

district, its flagpole, with an older flag of the period.

"The mural turned out better than I ever could have imagined," Mrs Shannon

continued. "I couldn't have been more pleased with it. We have heard nothing

but positive comments on it from family and friends who have visited us since

it was completed. It fits in perfectly; it looks like it should have always

been here."

Linda Manna's work with the house tour won't be apparent until this weekend,

but it will be just as noticeable when it is completed. Representing Newtown

Country Mill, Linda is handling the responsibilities of decorating the

interior of Nathaniel Sutton's home, at 2 The Old Road.

For Mr Sutton's home, Linda has decided to work with what she calls

"traditional country" colors -- beige, peach and golds. The homeowners travel

quite a bit, she said, so she was able to choose the color scheme she felt

would work best with the colors in the home.

The 13th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival will take place Sunday, December 6,

from 10 am to 5 pm. Holiday Festival tickets are required to get in to most of

the events. Pre-sale tickets are $12 for adults; they will be $15 on Sunday.

Senior and children's tickets are $8, regardless of when purchased.

Ticketholders will receive a full Holiday Festival Program Booklet on Sunday,

which will include information on each event, time schedules, and directions

to each of the houses on the tour. For additional information, call 426-8103.