The 20th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival Will Return On Sunday

Family Counseling Center will present its 20th Annual Holiday Festival on Sunday, December 4. For 2005 the event will return to Main Street and the immediate area. The festival will run from 11 am until 5 pm.

Edmond Town Hall, at 45 Main Street, will host an antiques show and sale in the gymnasium and a Victorian Tea in the building’s third floor Alexandria Room. The antiques show will open at 10 am.

The town hall’s auditorium will host ballet performances of Nutcracker Suite at 1 and 3 pm. Live music will be offered during the Victorian Tea by recital students from Newtown piano studios. The town hall will also be home to the Family Workshop and Photos with Santa this year.

The Festival of Trees will return also, and will be set up at C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street. Located in the lower meeting room, this event allows visitors to purchase raffle tickets and take their chance on trees and wreaths decorated by local groups (garden clubs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, families) and even a few individuals, along with gift baskets donated by local businesses.

Trinity Episcopal Church, at 31 Main Street, will present its annual Advent Service of Lessons and Carols at 2 pm.

Perhaps one of the strongest attractions for the festival is the tours of private homes, which is also returning for 2005. Five homes have been slated for the festival. Details appear later in this story.

“We have a wonderful group of homes on tour this year,” promises Stella Dance, chairman of the Holiday Festival House Tour. “Traditional Colonial Williamsburg, early Americana, and rustic, just to name a few. The decorators have diligently embellished each home for the holiday season and they are going to be just great!”

The offices of The Bee Publishing Company, Inc, at 5 Church Hill Road, will also be open for the Holiday Festival. Staff members will be on hand inside the circa 1903 building to offer tours and answer questions about what may be the most eclectic business setting in Newtown.

Holiday Festival tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for children and senior citizens on the day of the festival (prefestival sales end December 2). Tickets are needed for admission into all festival events.

Ticket vendors will be set up on Sunday at Edmond Town Hall and C.H. Booth Library.

The Holiday Festival is the annual major fundraiser for Family Counseling Center, Inc. Contact Family Counseling Center for additional information or ticket purchases at 426-8103.

A few tidbits about the homes on the walking tour follows. Additional information will be printed in the Holiday Festival programs, which will be available on Sunday at a number of Festival locations.

17 South Main Street

Home of Peggy Jepsen

The house at 17 Main Street, which stands on a two-acre parcel in the southeast corner of the Ram Pasture, was built by Dr Lemuel Thomas, Newtown’s first physician, in 1758. Among the many subsequent owners of Ram Pasture were Judge William Edmond (after whom the town hall was named) and Cyrenius H. Booth.

The ownership of the two-acre lot where the house and barn — the latter now being the home to Ms Jepsen’s business, Ram Pasture Antiques — passed through a sequence of 11 owners before Mary Hawley purchased it in 1926.

Cyrenius Booth was her maternal grandfather and the purchase rounded out her ownership of the full 12.5-acre Ram Pasture. The house, by then rebuilt, was used by Miss Hawley as quarters for her chauffeur during the last four years of her life.

The house will be decorated by Beth Cluff of Beth & Company, and the barn will be decorated by Marilia Rodriguez of Complements Interiors.

2 Summit Road

Home of Bethryn & Robert Rogers

This house, built in 1883, will be decorated by Joan Yarrow of Victoria Yarrow, Newtown.

39 Deep Brook Road

Home of Maura & David Fletcher

This house is a center hall Colonial built in 1765. It boasts a center chimney, five fireplaces, and very intricate exterior molding.

The first owners were Northey and Lillian Jones. Ms Jones was a renowned artist who had her art studio in the barn, which is original to the property.

Historians believe the home’s high ceilings — a rather unique architectural feature for such an old house — were put in by the first owners either because the Joneses were very wealthy or very tall.

The Fletchers added the kitchen in 2005. In keeping with the historical integrity of the house, the kitchen showcases old barn beams from northern Connecticut.

The house will be decorated by Beth Uniacke of Creative Interiors.

4 Main Street

Home of Tami & Gil Whitlock

The Whitlock house is rumored to have been visited until recently by friendly ghosts who bang doors and hide items.

Built around 1780 and originally only a small cottage, additions and alterations were made in the 1850s to flesh out this wood framed, clapboard house into 1½ stories.

Remaining from its early days are the spacious parlor with its original fireplace and coffin door as well as a charming dining room with wide floor boards.

Three years ago substantial renovations were carried out, providing the much enlarged house now seen on Main Street opposite Newtown Police Department.

Diana Baxter and Bek Meyers, both of The Painted Bungalow in Newtown, and Chelsea Gardens in Wilton will be decorating the house. Rugs will be loaned for the Holiday Festival by Mathison Floors, LLC, of Newtown.

 

The Dana-Holcombe House

29 Main Street

Home and business of

Jane & John Vouros

The Dana-Holcombe House’s name has its source in two legacies. Dana is the maiden surname of the lady of the house, Jane Dana Vouros. “Holcombe” honors a dear friend of the Vouros family, the late Josephine Holcombe, who was a believer in dreams and was philanthropic toward the Vouroses’ wishes.

The Dana-Holcombe House is a rebirth of the hospitality experience in this location. The Yankee Drover originally stood at this property for 131 years, but was destroyed by fire in 1981. Construction on The Dana-Holcombe house began in 2004 to continue the historic legacy of hospitality and service in Newtown.

The Dana-Holcombe House features six guest rooms, tiered patios, rose gardens, and perennial gardens. The bed-and-breakfast offers state-of-the-art facilities.

The Vouroses have completely decorated the three-story building themselves.

 

The Newtown Bee

5 Church Hill Road

While the familiar red building at 5 Church Hill Road is actually the third home for The Bee Publishing Company, it is by far the one that has been home to Newtown’s weekly newspaper for the longest duration.

The Bee was launched in 1877 and originally located on Main Street, but by 1903 a new building was constructed at 5 Church Hill Road. It was a long and narrow building, but it formed the backbone for many additions and expansions that would follow.

The first addition was in the 1930s, running along the west side of the offices. A major addition was constructed during the 1950s on the building’s back and east side. That addition today houses The Bee’s production and antiques sales departments, and additional reporters’ offices.

A second addition on the east side of the building was later added bringing its exterior to the look that it has today.

In 1993 the newspaper’s printing presses were moved from the building’s first floor and into a building on Commerce Road that had been constructed for them. The first floor at 5 Church Hill Road was converted into much-needed office space for the advertising, billing, and circulation departments, with additional space for the company’s computer servers.

On working days, staff members can be found working in all corners of the antique building. A few will be on hand to answer questions about the building and the business, which in June celebrated its 128th anniversary.

First-time visitors are often awed at the rotating collections of antiques and folk art in the building, complements of publisher R. Scudder Smith.