Tercentennial Steering Committee

Completes Two Years Of Planning And Celebrations

By Nancy K. Crevier

With a flick of a switch, Dan Cruson, chairman for the Tercentennial Steering Committee, set the Ram Pasture Christmas Tree aglow Friday night, December 2, and extinguished the responsibilities of the committee that made the dream of a banner year of celebration into a reality. “The last real, official tercentennial event for the year was the tree lighting,” Mr Cruson said.

The Tercentennial Steering Committee, made up of 12 Newtown residents, has been together for nearly two years. The past year has seen the undertaking of many events throughout the town to commemorate the founding of Newtown, 300 years ago.

“December marks the end of the official existence of the committee,” announced Mae Schmidle, vice chairman of the committee, at the Wednesday, December 7, meeting. “The whole tercentennial has been such a wonderfully diverse showing of our town. We brought everything together and had a whole year of celebration. It is the most special committee I’ve ever worked with,” she said.

Dan Cruson agreed, saying, “It’s been an up year.”

Mr Cruson and the other board members had great praise for the Family Heritage Day coordinated by Ms Schmidle on Sunday, December 4, at the C.H. Booth Library. “A lot of historical documents and artifacts came to light at Heritage Day,” said Mr Cruson. “Families actually found out that so many were related to each other in some way. One family photo actually showed up in two exhibits. In terms of what we [the Tercentennial Committee] did over the year, Heritage Day did a lot for long-lasting effect on the town.”

John Trentacosta, treasurer, added, “Heritage Day met and exceeded the mission of what we tried to accomplish this year.”

From a gala Colonial ball to a townwide birthday party and unrivaled fireworks, the Tercentennial Committee moved smoothly to make one idea after the next take form. It is hoped that the financing for the $200,000-plus yearlong celebration will come exclusively through donations and fundraising by the committee, without dipping into any town funds. Representative Julia Wasserman was key in helping procure a $6,000 grant that went toward the production of the Tableaux Vivants performed in October, and Newtown Savings Bank donated a generous sum toward the cost of the fireworks display. However, the committee is relying on the sales of books sponsored by the Tercentennial Committee to put them in the black when all is said and done.

A final push is on for sales of the coffee table book, Newtown: The Way We Are After 300 Years. The book, a collection of photos by local photographers depicting Newtown’s tercentennial events and the people of the town, is for sale at Lexington Gardens, Booth Library, and Newtown Savings and Peoples Banks. Sales of the books, at $25 apiece, will go toward offsetting final bills accrued by the many activities that honored Newtown’s 300-year history.