We don’t like to brag but… we’re going to! In case you haven’t heard yet, the wonderful photo from last week’s inauguration showing Senator Bernie Sanders in a folding chair, outfitted with his mask and a great pair of knitted mittens, was taken by Newtown High School graduate Brendan Smialowski. The photo has been turned into a viral meme, and among thousands of variations, the Vermont senator shows up in a boat with Sandra Bullock (a la Bird Box), sitting on a park bench next to Tom Hanks’s Forrest Gump, and even seated on the eastern side of Main Street, in front of Edmond Town Hall. Waiting for this year’s Labor Day Parade, perhaps? Anyway, while Brendan is now based in Washington, DC, and does award-winning work from behind the camera, we are so proud to remind folks that the multiple award-winning photographer was a freelance photographer for us in the late 1990s. It’s always very thrilling for us to see our interns continue to flourish in their career paths.

A shoutout this week to Stephanie DeBartolomeo, who recently took the time to produce a video for the St Rose of Lima parish. The 3 minute, 47 second video is called “Our Most Remarkable Year 2020,” and it answers the question “How did the 11,605 hearts and 23,210 hands of St Rose parish turn the challenges of 2020 into our most remarkable year?” While the video focuses on the members of the Church Hill Road parish, it also features many familiar locations around town. Anyone who would like to view it can do so by visiting strosechurch.com/videos. It’s worth the few minutes for a look back at some very good aspects of such a challenging year.

The Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation has a terrific offer that will earn you first place in the heart of your valentine. Honor your special loved one as a “Beautiful Butterfly” for a $100 donation. Their name will be “prominently displayed” at the sanctuary on Old Farm Road (beyond the dog park) through all of 2021. It’s the perfect gift for the beloved creature lover in your life, and the donation will “support the sanctuary’s programs which foster a kinder and gentle world for animals, humans, and the environment,” according to the information at cvhfoundation.org, where you can sign up your beautiful butterfly through February 1, 2021.

Parks & Recreation and Economic & Community Development offer this fun challenge: “Take a photo or selfie of a Newtown business, product, or service and post it to Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #welovenewtownctbiz.” Take a photo of any Newtown business, product, or service. Love it. Tag it — add the tag #welovenewtownctbiz, then post it to your Instagram or Facebook page. One winner will receive a gift certificate to a Newtown business of their choosing. (See further information in this week’s Business section.)

Need another way to express your love? Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers has an idea! Write a letter nominating your beloved — whatever it is about them that makes them ultra-special to you — and if your letter is selected, you and your nominee win a private movie showing at the Main Street theater. There is a suggested donation of $20, so you’ll also be supporting our local movie theater. “Mail” your letter at the special mailbox set up in the lobby of ETH, 45 Main Street, or go to edmondtownhall.org to submit it online and find out more details. Deadline is February 9, winner to be announced on February 10.

Due to popular demand, the Friends are extending the run of the pop-up Children’s and Young Adult Book Sale through the month of February on the second floor of the C.H. Booth Library. Many popular book series and authors are available for all reading levels, from toddlers to teens. Jigsaw puzzles and games are also being sold. Denise Kaiser, Friends Book Sale chair said, “The Friends have been receiving many generous donations of high quality children’s books lately, so we can keep the sale going through the month of February. Families can really stock up because most books are just $1 and up!” The sale is open during library hours. Face masks and social distancing requirements apply. Proceeds benefit the C.H. Booth Library, so hurry on over.

Rumor has it that a birthday party for a former Newtown resident took place beneath the pavilion near Glander’s Field this past Sunday. A small gathering of friends, all physically distancing and so well masked that not even the guest of honor was certain at times who was there, found a way to celebrate the milestone birthday. Add some hoods, caps, and scarves to the mix — all good ideas, considering the high temperature of 28 degrees — and there could have been a party game of “Guess Who?” Maybe a prize, too, for who was best at sneaking a well-chilled piece of birthday cake beneath the mask! Happy birthday to the “birthday boy” who shall remain unnamed!

Did you know that February 6 is the official Take Your Child To The Library Day? CHB has a Lego challenge set for that day, so you’ll want to visit chboothlibrary.org to find out more and to register. Or stop by: you know, the library is once again open to the public!

The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN) is still hoping to present the major exhibition, “Color in Winter,” which generally presents as many as 200 large-scale works, an opening reception, and as many as four artist demonstrations — but now it may be more like “Color in Late Winter and Early Spring.” Postponed for the second time, a contact from the artists’ collective this week told us that SCAN is now hoping to hang its winter exhibition March 1. The show has been hung at the Newtown Municipal Center since 2014.

Yet another way to hear what’s happening in town! The Newtown Bee and Newtown resident John Iannuzzi of Park City Productions and WPKN 89.5 radio (WPKN Local News, Weekday Evenings at 6:55 & 11 pm) have partnered to share upcoming and current news of our town. You can hear the Friday interviews with Newtown Bee Editor Nancy K. Crevier on The Newtown Bee’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/thenewtownbee or at https://youtu.be/1sm59d-wva0.

Can I resist slipping in a shoutout to the Beeline, the bike trail that will be built from center of New Britain, and which will also connect that city’s CTfastrak hub with the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail? A recent state grant is making the bike path a possibility. With a name like that, how can it not succeed?

Do you own a great building or property that Newtown residents should get to know? Contact Bee reporter Eliza Hallabeck at eliza@thebee.com and be part of the ongoing “Get To Know” series!

International Holocaust Remembrance Day was this Wednesday, January 27. If you were unable to pause that day to honor the anniversary of the Auschwitz prison camp liberation and memorialize the Jewish people of Europe who were murdered during World War II, take a moment now. Remembering and education others is the way to ensure that these kinds of horrors do not ever occur again.

The need never stops. FAITH Food Pantry, 46 Church Hill Road, continues to support residents, providing food and home supplies when temporary or long-term issues mean putting food on the table is a challenge. FAITH is currently open only by appointment, due to pandemic protocols. Please call 203-837-0816 or 203-426-5604 to schedule a time to pick up food, on Tuesdays from 9:30 to 11:30 am, or Thursdays from 4 to 6 pm. Food donations can also be made on those days, as well as the first Saturday of each month, between 10 am and noon. Please call before bringing donations. You can find a complete list of most needed items at newtownfoodpantry.org, as well as a way to give a financial donation. Donations of food and household goods can also be dropped off at the office of The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Monday-Friday, between 8 am and 5 pm. The collection box is immediately inside the front door.

I have so few needs that are not met, thankfully. But I am most appreciative when you promise to... Read me again.