Best wishes to R’vyn Grega-Szabó and Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps Indoor Percussion as the team heads toward The Spartans Winter Invitational. Spartans Indoor Percussion is the only independent indoor percussion ensemble in New England and R’vyn, who lives here in Newtown, is part of that team. He and his teammates will be in Nashua, N.H., this weekend to compete against seven other indoor percussion ensembles. The event is part of the New England Scholastic Band Association winter competition season. A note from the team last week said The Spartans are a nationally ranked drum and bugle corps who placed first in Open Class in 2019, the most recent full Drum Corps International season due to COVID-19.

Save The Date requests are coming in fast and furious this month. The latest arrived this week, from Newtown Lions Club, who are hoping to see plenty of residents join them for the 2022 Lose The Litter effort. The townwide roadside spring cleaning is planned for Saturday, April 23, and will again coincide with Newtown Earth Day Festival. Lions will have a table set up during the festival, and groups are invited to register for specific roads of their choosing. The Lions will be at the middle school, 11 Queen Street, from 10 am until 1 pm that day, with bags and disposable gloves to share and final road sign-ups available. If you’d like to register early, contact Gordon Williams at 203-405-6392 or gmwllw@charter.net.

Edmond Town Hall also has something to look forward to: a weekend event themed around the original Woodstock music festival. While plans are still being cemented, we have been entrusted with the news that the ETH Board of Managers is planning to screen a Woodstock documentary and host a panel discussion on Friday, April 22, and then host a performance by tribute band Back To The Garden the following night. Full details are coming, but remember where you read about this first.

Are you plugged in to C.H. Booth Library’s e-mail newsletters? Just in case you aren’t, here’s something to note: The library has “Kill A Watt” meters to measure electric usage, as shared in an e-mail announcement this week. The announcement reads, “Are you wondering why your electric bill is so high? There is an easy way to measure how much electricity any plug-in device uses and how much it is costing you. The device is called the Kill A Watt, and it is super easy to use. The C.H. Booth Library owns several of them, and you can check one out just like you check out a book. Ask for one at the Circulation Desk. This device is a monitor that assesses the efficiency and electricity usage of household appliances. Plug it into your outlet, and then plug in the appliance you would like to assess into the Kill A Watt meter. Then the unit starts accumulating data. You can take a look at the number of kilowatt-hours used, and the device will also show you how much time has elapsed since you plugged it in. This allows you to project how many kilowatt-hours the device will use in a week, month, or year. And since we are billed by kilowatt-hours used, you can calculate how much it is costing you to use the device. You may be surprised to find out how much your devices consume, even in standby mode. Once you know, you can start saving money by putting those devices on a switched power strip to turn them off when not being used.”

Speaking of the library, if you did not catch last week’s “Race: More Than A Conversation” event, hosted by C.H. Booth Library and Newtown Public Schools, the community conversation event is available to watch online at youtube.com/watch?v=AKxK93Mv2S0.

Is your child celebrating a birthday soon? Celebrate them in the paper by e-mailing a birthday announcement to Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck for the Birthday Wishes printed weekly in our Education pages. Each week we publish photos and a birthday announcement for children with upcoming birthdays. One lucky winner is then drawn from the submissions to receive a basic vanilla/chocolate ice cream cake compliments of Ferris Acres Creamery. The submission deadline is Tuesdays at noon. To include your child’s name in “Birthday Wishes,” send name, address, phone number, age, and birthday, along with an original head and shoulders photo to Birthday Wishes, The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470, or e-mail information and a JPG photo to eliza@thebee.com. Please send the photo as an attachment to the e-mail. Birth dates must be within one month of submission.

I have a heart-melting birth announcement to share from Power Farm on Currituck Road. This baby ram, pictured, was born on Valentine’s Day. Tina Sedor Benhardt shared this photo with us with the note, “People may like to see this in The Bee, maybe it can bring a warm smile into our hearts on a cold winter day.” Welcome to Newtown, my new ram friend.

And to all Newtown families celebrating new babies, remember to submit birth announcements to The Newtown Bee. A form is available in The Newtown Bee office and on our website (newtownbee.com, under the Home Tab/Submission Forms) for those wishing to announce the recent birth of a child or grandchild, or adoption. A photo can be included and will be returned if submitted with a stamped self-addressed envelope to (The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470). Or submit information by e-mail to shannon@thebee.com. Large .jpg files are accepted.

Newtown High School had several standout performances in track and wrestling championships this past week, including several individual and relay team champions. The Newtown High wrestling program has been around for 50 years and former coaches and team members were on hand for a ceremony in early February. Read about the Nighthawks in the sports section.

Bev Bennett Schaedler would like to remind readers that it isn’t too early to think about spring and delivering sunshine to others. The Friends of Newtown Seniors (FONS) Chores Services Coordinator, Bev’s big project these days is organizing a Senior Earth Day Celebration for Sunday, April 24. For a few hours that day, Bev is hoping to have teams fan out across town, ready to help senior citizens with light yardwork/outdoor spring cleaning. Not all locations will need the full four hours allotted for the chores. Bev’s hoping to hear from anyone — organized clubs, Scouts, students, church groups, families, et al — who would like to participate. For full details and to register a team, contact Bev at 203-430-0633 or FONSChoreServices@gmail.com.

The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary shared on its Instagram account, @cvhanimalsanctuary, for its latest Wildlife Wednesday post that “most bumblebee queens nest just below the ground or under piles of brush in winter, until spring when they emerge. So leave the leaves, don’t rake, mow, or till, and ban the leaf blower!”

I’ll be buzzing all winter long as long as you promise next week to... Read me again.