New Co-Chairs Stepping In—

Holiday Festival Is Getting An Extreme Makeover This Year

By Shannon Hicks

It may only be July on everyone else’s calendars — months away from the Annual Family Counseling Center Holiday Festival — but Laura Miller Kurtz and Leslie Troy see things a little differently. These two ladies see the calendar as holding only 19 weeks before the holiday festival.

The two Sandy Hook residents have taken over as co-chairmen of the fundraising event from Nancy Obremski, who single-handedly chaired the festival for the past two years after co-chairing it with Lynne Brault in 2001. Mrs Obremski and her family will be moving out of Newtown later this fall.

The 19th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival will be Sunday, December 5. The 12th Annual Gala, a formal event traditionally held on the eve of the festival, will be Saturday, December 4.

A kick-off meeting for anyone interested in learning about the festival and its volunteer opportunities is planned for August 25.

Mrs Miller Kurtz and Mrs Troy have a lot of work ahead of them, and they’re ready for it.

“We don’t know how to say No,” Mrs Troy said last week with a laugh in response to being asked why she agreed to co-chair the major event. She and Mrs Troy sat down, along with Family Counseling Center manager of development and fundraising Kevin Roche, to discuss their plans for the future of the Holiday Festival.

“We both had, after last year’s festival, all of these ideas to make the festival even bigger and better,” Mrs Troy said. “We went out for a bite after the crafts show ended [the ladies were the co-chairs of the festival’s arts and crafts portion of the 2003 festival] and we had what felt like an endless stream of ideas.

“We really thought then that we were ready for this,” she said. “So we stepped up to the challenge.”

The two ladies have worked closely with Nancy Obremski in the past, so they feel they have an idea of what they’re in for, what needs to be done, and how to incorporate some new ideas into the event. Their vision is to increase the attendance, participation, and sponsorship of the holiday festival by involving more of the groups the Family Counseling Center (FCC) services.

Family Counseling Center, at 121 Mt Pleasant Road in Newtown, is a nonprofit, state-licensed, nationally accredited outpatient psychiatric clinic. The holiday festival is the largest fundraiser each year for FCC.

Both ladies bring a teacher’s commitment, organizational skills, and dedication to their new post. Mrs Miller Kurtz is on the board of directors for Family Counseling Center. She and her husband, Al, and their family moved into Newtown in 2000.

Having spent ten years teaching seventh grade English, Mrs Miller Kurtz recently earned her master’s in English with a concentration in African American literature from Southern Connecticut State University. Her thesis was on the work of Toni Morrison. She is also on the board of Newtown Newcomers Club and captains the Smashers, a tennis team out of Beaverbrook Racquet Club.

Mrs Troy and her husband, Patrick, along with their three children, have lived in Newtown for eight years. She was also a teacher — at an elementary school — for ten years, having earned her master’s in curriculum development at Western Connecticut State University.

Biographical notes provided by Family Counseling Center mention Mrs Troy hits a mean golf ball, enjoys photography, and is gaining a well-deserved reputation as a freelance artist with exhibits in local crafts shows. Her work can be found in specialty stores like Truly Yours in Bethel (owned by fellow Newtown resident Dawn Leonardi).

“The Holiday Festival provides me the opportunity to use my talents and interests for an organization that is devoted to what I think is essential — building strong families,” Mrs Troy said.

What’s New

None of the events of festivals past are being lost. There will still be an antiques show, an arts and crafts show (which Mrs Kurtz Miller and Mrs Troy plan to co-chair again), ballet performances, Victorian Tea Room with ongoing live music, New England Café, Festival of Trees, and a walking tour of private homes.

What will be different is that some of these events will be restructured, starting with the walking tour.

In years past the walking tour opened five or six private homes to the public. Ticket holders were invited into a home to walk around while enjoying decorations and features of the home, and hearing about some of each home’s history. Professional florists and decorators stepped in to decorate each home.

This year there will be a few more homes on the tour, but the walk-throughs will be abbreviated.

Stella Dance has agreed to serve as the chairman of the house tour, which this year will feature Idea Houses. In addition to short visits to a home, each location will offer a decoration, an ornament, a child’s craft, or a recipe that can be created by ticket holders at home.

“What we’re hoping to do,” said Mrs Miller Kurtz, “is get more houses this year, maybe ten, but it won’t involve walking through the full home. Maybe just the entry, the dining room, the living room, and the kitchen. And we’re going to feature a theme at each home.”

“Our idea is to not have people waiting in line so much,” picked up Mrs Troy. “There will be quicker visits, less to see, and an idea to take home from every house.”

Homeowners will benefit from opening their doors to the festival this year in that all decorations that are used in their home for the festival will be theirs to keep after the event. In the past, florists and decorators offered their decorative contributions to the homeowners at reduced rates.

Letters will be going out soon to groups that might be interested in being home decorators. Mrs Kurtz Miller and Mrs Troy say they felt it was time to tap into the public resources within town, such as woman’s and junior woman’s clubs, garden clubs, Newcomers and others.

The letters will invite organizations to submit a theme of their design and examples of a theme’s execution. Once selected, groups will be given a stipend (coming from sponsorship donations) and matched with a home.

The public will be invited to vote on the homes. The homeowners of the house that receives the highest number of votes will receive a blue ribbon.

The Festival of Trees will be moving from C.H. Booth Library to the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall, which means more room for the trees, wreaths and decorations that festivalgoers will be bidding on.

The antiques show, traditionally presented in the town hall gymnasium, will be joining at the arts and crafts show and New England Café at Newtown High School. The arts and crafts show will be presented in the front foyer, large gym and two smaller gyms at the high school, and the antiques show will be in the cafeteria — larger locations for both events.

The co-chairs will additionally be taking advantage of those who attend the high school by inviting NHS students to submit works for an art show. Students will be awarded scholarships in different art media.

“Nancy [Obremski] has tried for the art show for a few years,” said Mrs Miller Kurtz. “We’re going to try again.

Vendors for the antiques show and the arts and crafts show can begin contacting the co-chairs about getting space in their respective events, and financial sponsors are actively being sought.

The co-chairmen are looking for volunteers to serve on a committee, work on set-up or at an event on the day of the festival.

“As always, the success of the festival is dependant on the wonderful volunteers involved,” Mrs Troy said.

“We have a lot of people returning, but we can always use more,” added Mrs Kurtz Miller. “There’s no such thing as too many volunteers.”

To volunteer or just find out where help is needed, contact Laura Miller Kurtz at 426-7876, Leslie Troy at 270-9460, or Family Counseling Center at 426-8103. Contact Kevin Roche at the Family Counseling Center for details about the August 25 kick-off meeting.