Best wishes to Vito Kalo and family. The owners of The Villa Restaurant announced last weekend that Vito, sister Patty, and her husband Zudi, et al, are retiring. The Italian restaurant at 4 Riverside Road had served families, friends and visitors for more for 40 years. I’ll miss curling up on the Villa’s patio in warm weather, watching traffic along Riverside Road and Sandy Hook Center while enjoying terrific salads, pizza, an occasional Chicken Caprese, and a glass of wine or two. I understand last Sunday afternoon and evening turned into quite the festive, impromptu farewell event for the restaurant’s team, with dozens of people showing up for one final meal with Vito & Company.

The good news is, Vito has been working behind the scenes to make sure his building won’t be idle for too long. The Persaud family, owners of Dodgingtown Market & Deli, have already purchased the business and will be stepping right into 4 Riverside very soon.

Congratulations to Kristin Connors and Colleen Zingaro, Newtown residents who were both nominated by Governor Ned Lamont last week to serve as judges of the Connecticut Superior Court. Kristin and Colleen were among 22 jurists nominated on March 1. There are currently 35 vacancies on the state superior court.

Continued congratulations to the members of The Garden Club of Newtown, who earned multiple awards during the recent Connecticut Flower & Garden Show, which we covered last week. The additional kudos are for the honors the club picked up through a group entry. The club was awarded a blue ribbon and a Group Horticulture Award for its display of six container-grown house plants in the “Temperatures Rising” section of the Standard Flower Show. Shannon Hicks noted all that in her story last week. What she missed connecting was the point that this was the second consecutive year for the local club to dominate that category! Well done gardeners! No pressure, of course, but now we’re all going to be watching for a hat trick come 2025.

Meanwhile, if you visited C.H. Booth Library within the past week, those displays near the Circulation desk were indeed two of the garden club’s award-winning efforts, back home from Hartford. The “Temperatures Rising” entry and club president Paula Toi’s “Clean Sweep” entry — which earned her a third place ribbon in the Spring Cleaning section of the Standard Flower Show’s Design Division — were both shared locally while they remained healthy enough to be on display.

An Open Mic Night with Beth Leas and Tribe TLC has been announced for Friday, March 22, from 6 to 9 pm, at Love Has A Home Here at Sticks and Stones Farm. All are invited to head to 197 Huntingtown Road and offer entertainment with comedy, storytelling, music, singing, poetry, etc, or attend as an audience member and just enjoy the show. Donations are welcome and will benefit Love Has A Home Here, so that the nonprofit can continue providing open access to programs for all. Registration is requested and available through 203-915-3177, info@lovehasahome.org, or LoveHasAHome.org.

Friends of Newtown Seniors (FONS) has made available complimentary File of Life refrigerator magnets for anyone who would like one. These are the refrigerator magnets to help inform emergency personnel arriving at your living quarters of your specific medical needs and emergency contacts. While supplies last, the magnets are at 8 Simpson Street, at the front desks for both Newtown Senior Center and Newtown Community Center.

If you’re curious about FONS itself, a FONS Membership Dinner is being planned for Thursday, April 11, at Newtown Community Center. Reservations are requested by April 1, however, so if you’d like to learn about the group’s mission and accomplishments, plans for the future, share thoughts on enhancing services for local senior citizens, and of course enjoy some goodies — wine, cheese, a buffet dinner and dessert — contact FONS at 203-430-0633 or info@friendsofnewtownseniors.org. There is no charge for the event. Organizers are just trying to get a handle on numbers for food planning and door prize purchases.

The organizers and planners at Edmond Town Hall Theatre have announced their newest event, and it’s another one that sounds like it’ll be great fun. Readers are invited to grab some of their friends for Girls Night Out Bridesmaids Movie Event on Friday, April 5. The event begins at 7 pm with costume contests for Ugliest Bridesmaid Dress, Most Enthusiastic Bridal Party, Craziest Walk of Shame, and Best Melissa McCarthy. A photo booth will be available, and a beer and wine bar with specialty cocktails will also be offered, all leading up to, of course, a screening of the 2011 comedy starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper (among others, including Jon Hamm, who I would purr for any day!). Tickets are $6 and already available through edmondtownhall.org. Remaining tickets will also be available at the box office that night.

Newtown Scholarship Association has a new board member. Meghan Miller is the latest addition to the board of the association that has been providing need-based scholarships to Newtown students since 1937. Meghan has been an associate director of student financial assistance at Sacred Heart University since 2022, and previously worked in intercollegiate athletics in a variety of positions, most recently as the senior associate director for compliance and student services at Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University. She earned a BS in Human Movement/Sports Science from Sacred Heart University and an MS in Management of Sports Industries from the University of New Haven. Now she’s going to help other students earn their degrees, which is wonderful news.

Speaking of which, NSA applications have opened for students who will be graduating from high school this spring. This means not only Newtown High School students but readers who live in town and attend school elsewhere (Abbott Tech, Fairfield Prep, Immaculate, etc). Former high school graduates are also invited to apply to NSA. Scholarships are awarded based on a family’s financial need, the student’s academic information, activities, work history, and an interview with the NSA Awards Committee. Deadline for The Hertberg Family Foundation is fast approaching; NSA needs to hear from students interested in that award by March 15. The NSA General Application Deadline is a little further out. Those applications are due April 12. The NSA Returning College Student Application deadline is July 1. Visit newtownscholarship.org for full details.

Most of us at 5 Church Hill Road have not yet started our creations for The 2024 Newtown Bee Peeps Diorama Contest. I say “most” because one person has not only started, he’s completed his first entry! Reporter Owen Tanzer showed up last Thursday morning with his diorama, and was feeling pretty proud of himself for being the first to enter … until he was reminded that the competition is at the end of the month. The rest of us still have some time, fortunately, as do readers. Dioramas will be arriving in the office by Thursday, March 28, with voting to be done via Facebook from noon that day through noon Friday, March 29. We’ll announce the winners of our in-house voting and Peep-le’s Choice Award on Good Friday afternoon. We also hope to see some photos this year from readers who create their own diorama. Remember the three rules for our contest: one, you must include at least one Peep; two, try to be original with your design; and three, keep it family friendly.

I still haven’t started my Peeps Diorama, nor have I launched into today’s nap. Can you guess which will come first for me? I’ll let you know if you remember to come back next week and … read me again.