Returning Holiday Festival To Offer

Holiday Fun For All Ages

By Nancy K. Crevier

Family teams are being sought by Newtown Youth & Family Services (NYFS) to take part in the new Annual Holiday Festival “Amazing Scavenger Hunt” on Sunday, December 2. Organizers promise that teams, made up of a minimum of one adult and youth, or up to four family members, will have loads of fun making their ways about town in this trivia and obstacle challenge event.

The Amazing Scavenger Hunt begins its sleuthing at the NYFS offices at 15 Berkshire Road in Sandy Hook, at 11 am, December 2, with participants vying for a prize package valued at more than $600. Prizes include passes for snow tubing, water resorts, and a railway museum, restaurant gift cards, and much more.

There is a $25 entry fee per team, and registration is required. Early registration is being encouraged, and there is a limited number of teams that can participate.

Details can be found at NewtownYouthAndFamilyServices.org, and registration can be done by calling 203-426-8103.

Participation in The Amazing Scavenger Hunt still leaves time to enjoy the many other Annual Holiday Festival events that day. House tours of historic Borough homes; a Craft Fair in the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall (ETH), noon and 2 pm performances of the Nutcracker ballet in the ETH Theater and Victorian Tea in the ETH Alexandria Room, and a Festival of Trees in the C.H. Booth Library lower meeting room and a Gingerbread House Contest display on the library’s second floor will provide diverse opportunities to welcome the holiday season.

The Victorian Tea, running 11 am to 4 pm, will provide not only a spot of tea and delicious tea breads or scones, but a chance to hear local musicians. Performing at various times during the tea will be Lindsey Jones on violin; Emma Tallon, viola; Sue Vogelman, piano; Wesley Morlock, piano; students of Peter Obre Guitar Studio; and Emma Burns, Kirsten Fallon, Hannah Groonell, Trey Hazard, and Bridget Morrissey, all piano students of Patsy Beddoe-Stephens.

The Newtown High School Singers, under the direction of Jane Matson, will stroll Main Street and perform outside Edmond Town Hall on Sunday afternoon, and will also sing at the C.H. Booth Library.

Tickets for the Annual Holiday Festival, sponsored by Newtown Savings Bank to benefit NYFS, are available at multiple Newtown Savings Bank locations: Main Street, Sand Hill Plaza, Stony Hill in Bethel, Greenwood Avenue in Bethel, Federal Road in Brookfield, Main Street in Monroe, and Main Street in Southbury. Tickets are also available at Everything Newtown, 61 Church Hill Road; C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street; and at The Country Mill, 5 Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center.

Individual tickets cost $12; $25 for family (two adults and two children), with each additional child $5. Tickets allow entry to any home on the house tour, the Victorian Tea, the Nutcracker ballet, the Craft Fair, and the Festival of the Trees. (Organizations, clubs, and individuals are invited to donate decorated trees and holiday decorations to the Festival of the Trees, to be raffled off Sunday afternoon. Contact NYFS for details on donating.)

Entry to the Victorian Tea only is $5 per person; to the Nutcracker, $7 per person. A charitable donation is encouraged for entry to the Craft Fair only. There is no entry fee for just the Festival of the Trees or to view entries in the Gingerbread House Contest.

NYFS is sponsoring a special gingerbread house workshop, Saturday, November 24, from 10 am to noon, to help contest participants — or any other resident — learn tricks to creating a masterpiece. The two-hour class will be presented by a master cake and design instructor from Wilton at the NYFS offices.

Cost for the class is $25 per family, maximum of two. An optional decorating kit can be purchased for $10. Call 203-426-8103 to register. Space is limited.

Entry forms for the Gingerbread House Contest can be found at the NYFS website, along with rules. Completed designs must be delivered to the library on Friday, November 30, between 1 and 5 pm, or on Saturday, December 1, between 10 am and noon. Houses will be judged Sunday, December 2, at 4 pm.