Tercentennial Calendars Go On Sale December 18

Just in time for holiday gift giving, Newtown’s Official Tercentennial Calendar will be ready for distribution on December 18. Lexington Gardens will kickoff the sale of the calendars from 11 am to 12:30 pm with several of the artists who contributed their artwork ready to autograph their pages.

After the opening at Lexington Gardens, a reception for the artists will be held at My Place from 1 to 2 pm, where artists once again will be available to sign copies of the calendar. Only 1,000 of the limited-edition calendars have been printed; hundreds have already been reserved.

The 2005 calendar has been in the works for quite some time. The Tercentennial Commission appointed a publication committee to produce lasting documentation of the 300th birthday celebration. The Publication Committee began meeting in early 2004. That is when the six-member group discussed what type of publications Newtowners would most embrace. A daily calendar featuring the artwork of some of Newtown’s most celebrated artists is the first publication resulting from this meeting. The committee sought more than art for this calendar, however.

Considering that every month in the year 2005 features major tercentennial events, the committee decided to include all the townwide activities for each month. In addition to listing the activities that will occur in 2005, which appear in red, important historic dates that affected Newtowners’ lives throughout its 300 years are also integrated into the pages of this calendar and appear in blue.

“There are so many historic dates in this calendar that we couldn’t possibly put them in the actual date blocks in each month,” said Joanne Greco Rochman, a member of the publication committee. “Mae Schmidle created the most elaborate month-by-month history of events known to man,” she said, laughing. “We’re talking 12 five-foot-long cardboard sheets, one for each month of the year, upon which Mae cut and pasted important dates that affected Newtown directly and indirectly.”

Once the committee asked Ms Rochman, who is also the publicist for the tercentennial, to take care of the calendar, she asked several area artists what they thought of contributing their artwork to this project. “The next thing I knew, I was receiving slides and digital images from some of our most prominent artists,” said Ms Rochman, and those who responded quickly enough to meet the tight deadline are included in the calendar.

Because these artists have reputations that reach far beyond Newtown, the committee did not limit the works to Newtown subjects, nor did it limit the selections to paintings. The works of a fabric artist and sculptors are also included.

The official tercentennial logo, designed by Brad Howe, is prominently presented on the back page.

 “Newtown’s colorful and talented community with a history older than the United States Declaration of Independence is captured on these pages,” Ms Rochman said. “What is so significant about this limited edition is that you may add your own special dates to this calendar, documenting your uniquely personal history throughout 2005.”

This calendar has been made possible through the efforts of the Tercentennial Commission and the Tercentennial Publication Committee: Ms Rochman, Ms Schmidle, Don Brooks, Justin Scott, and Raymond Sipherd.

While other members of the committee worked on collecting photos for the pictorial coffee table book and an updated history of Newtown, Ms Rochman, Ms Schmidle, and Mr Brooks collected and edited the material for the calendar. Ms Schmidle researched and compiled the historical data. Joseph Pereira, Sue Walker, and Brad Stanton also donated their time and talent in creating the calendar.

Sources of historical information was gathered from the public records of the Colony of Connecticut, public records of the State of Connecticut, the Connecticut Historical Society collection, Connecticut Archives, Newtown land records; Journal Records, Town of Newtown; Ezra Levan Johnson’s Newtown’s History and Historian, and The Newtown Bee.

“I can’t wait for the public to see this calendar. It is truly gorgeous,” said Ms Rochman. The art has been vividly reproduced so that every tiny detail is captured beautifully. “You’ll be tempted to frame these pages, so you better buy two copies — one for framing and one for posterity,” she said. “I am so glad that these calendars will be available for holiday gift giving. I know people will want to mail copies of this calendar to their children and to their friends and family who have moved away from Newtown or visited Newtown. I am sure these prized calendars will become highly collectible. I mean how often do you find together under one cover the works of Robert Cottingham, David Merrill, Paul Attard, Patricia Barkman, Betty Christensen, Dana Fradon, Eleanor Loecher, Dick McEvoy, Michael Morshuk, Ruth Newquist, James Travers, Virginia Zic, and Mae Schmidle, one of the founders of the Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN).”

The price of the calendar is $15. This cost will cover the costs of the calendar and any additional money will be put toward the other publications due to appear in print in 2005.

The calendar will be available, while supplies last, at Lexington gardens, The Drug Center, My Place, The Bagel Shop, the C.H. Booth Library, the General Store, the Hallmark Store at Sand Hill, the Newtown Bee, and from the Board of Realtors.