Four members from the Newtown Lions were up early one recent Saturday morning installing 28 American flags along Main Street. Doug Body, Kevin Corey, Chris Gardner and Ray Keegan were earlybirds along the major roadway on May 4, when they hung 28 American flags from utility poles on Main Street. This has been a club project for the Lions Club since 2010. The flags will be on display until mid-October. As in years past, members each take a week to check and make sure that the flags are not wrapped around poles. If the flags do get wrapped up, the Lions take care of unwrapping them. That, my friends, is why that presentation always looks so nice — those extra steps taken by those men and women to make sure our beautiful flag always flies properly.

The winter-to-summer flag changeover at the Main Street flagpole is scheduled for this weekend. Readers are invited to join the Lions and Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters at 8 am Saturday, May 18, for that event. The current 18- by 24-foot flag will be lowered, with a group on the ground ready to make sure not a single inch of it touches the road. Then a new 20- by 30-foot flag will be raised and boy is that a sight. If you’ve never been, it’s really something to see. Don’t be late if you’d like to experience this twice-annual rite, however. The Lions and Hook & Ladder are so well versed in this ritual that it takes only a few minutes. It’s worth the visit if you can get there, I promise.

The Lions will continue with community service all weekend. The 2021 Mustang convertible being raffled this year will be parked outside Blue Colony Diner, 66 Church Hill Road, on Saturday between 9 am and 2 pm. It has other stops in the state this weekend, but that one is nice and close. Those tickets are $20 each and the drawing is planned for Saturday, October 19.

Sales of Duck Race tickets will also continue this weekend. The 2024 Great Pootatuck River Duck Race will be held Saturday, June 8, from 11 am until 3 pm in Sandy Hook Center. Raffle tickets are $5 each and are on sale now. Sales will continue through June 7 at local businesses and online via newtownlions.org. This weekend’s locations include Carminuccio’s Pizza & Subs (76 South Main Street) and My Place Restaurant (6 Queen Street), both on Friday between 5:30-7:30 pm; and then in front of Newtown General Store (43 Main Street), on Saturday from 9 am until 1 pm.

Speaking of community service, Newtown Youth & Family Services conducted its 25th Independent Living Day event on April 27 as part of a townwide effort to assist seniors and disabled residents at Nunnawauk Meadows. This annual event has become a much-anticipated activity in Newtown and a proud tradition for NYFS. Not only does it help the senior community, but it also promotes team building, family bonding and community outreach. This year the event focused on planting, raking, organizing closets and cabinets, clearing debris from walkways and patios, washing windows, and other household chores. Organizers this week said NYFS is “so grateful to our community members who volunteered their time for this event and their relationship with Nunnawauk Meadows for allowing Independent Living Day to continue year after year.”

If flags along Main Street and the changeover from the winter to summer flag on the Main Street Flagpole aren’t enough to indicate the approach of summer, an announcement last week sure adds to the mix. The Market Master(s) last week announced Newtown Farmers Market will return to Fairfield Hills for weekly presentations beginning Tuesday, June 18. Markets will run 2-6 pm each week, maintaining the slight time change implemented last year. Maybe this will be my year to find some catnip among the vendor booths.

Fresh off World Labyrinth Day earlier this month (see photos on this week’s Religion page), a reminder arrived in my email this week about the labyrinth at Love Has A Home Here/Sticks and Stones Farm. The labyrinth is a special place among the 60 acres of moss, stone and forest at 201 Huntingtown Road. Love Has A Home Founder Bill Donaldson says labyrinths are so ancient their origin remains a mystery. Some date them back at least 4,000 years. They have been and continue to be a part of human culture around the world. They are, he said, most commonly used as a form of meditation and contemplation. The rhythmic, circuitous walking helps to calm the mind, giving space to find peace, answers to questions, or to simply relax and enjoy the process. Bill said everyone is welcome to visit and wander the beautiful river path to the labyrinth at any time. He also cautions it takes longer than one may think to traverse its 11 circuits, “so leave yourself some time.” To learn more call Bill directly at 203-915-0718.

We shared news recently about the Par 3 Challenge, a fundraising effort spearheaded by Newtown High School junior Andrew Goldsmith who is part of this year’s Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants team. The workcampers also benefited from a Palm Sunday Breakfast collection by members of Trinity Episcopal Church. Ahead of their planned trip to Biloxi, Miss., in July, the young adults additionally volunteered on April 28 for Real Food CT at Sticks and Stones Farm. They planted seeds, dug holes for fence posts, prepared beds for blueberry bushes, and removed roofing for an outdoor refrigerator space.

I heard some wonderful news this week that made me very proud: One of last summer’s Newtown Bee interns earned a 4.0 GPA during his most recent term at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Owen Brown of Newtown is a communications student working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree and was one of two interns who spent time working with us last summer. He earned the perfect score while taking 18 credits this past semester.

College-level students and parents, don’t forget to share your good academic news with us when it happens. We love sharing those announcements in Campus Notes. Have a photo of yourself/your child? Send it! We just need something from the school you/they are attending to confirm the news, and then we’ll make sure readers know all about the grades, scholarship, acceptance into a group, lead role in a theater production, athletic win, etc. Send all of those details to Jenna Visca, at jenna@thebee.com, and she’ll take care of it from there.

Graduation and finals are fast approaching, but not everyone is ready for the 2024-25 academic year to end. Two student teams from Newtown High School will compete in the 31st Connecticut High School Geography Challenge on May 21 at Central Connecticut State University. All activities and questions in the 2024 competition will be related to the theme “Food Sustainability.” Team A consists of students Ryan Michlovitz (Captain), Nathaniel Crone, Charles Dunn, Martin Dunn, and Nathan Twitchell. Team B consists of students Jaden Albanese, Ryan Hochstetler, John Meade, and Addison O’Leary. Their teacher advisor is Rachel Torres. The competition consists of team events: a problem-solving activity that requires the application of geographic knowledge and skills to solve a geographic puzzle; an orienteering activity that tests map reading and compass skills; a map reading activity that incorporates geographic information systems with traditional mapping; and a Geography Quiz Bowl, which requires extensive geographic knowledge centered on this year’s theme of “Global Climate Change.” The Connecticut High School Geography Challenge is the only interscholastic geography team competition in the state for high school students. Sponsored by Central Connecticut State University and its Department of Geography, the Challenge is also unique in that it requires a high level of geographic knowledge and well-developed geography skills as well as good teamwork. Go Nighthawks!

Speaking of young adults, I had the honor of watching two young men vote for the first time on Tuesday. One was leaving the middle school with his father and the other was just heading in with his mother when I caught up with them and heard the exciting news. While voter turnout was moderate for the second go-round for a Board of Education budget this week, I was still happy to see at least two — and I’m sure there were others — young people taking these important steps.

I’ll be honored if you’ll remember to come back here next week, when you can … read me again.