Part Of Fundraiser For Family Life Center—

Tickets Are Available For 9th Annual Gala To Kick Off Holiday Festival

By Shannon Hicks

The kick-off event for the Annual Newtown Holiday Festival is actually held the night before the festival itself. Before the house tours begin or the refreshments are sold through the Victorian Tea or New England Café, a formal event is held to celebrate the season and offer thanks to those who have helped organize each year’s festival.

Victoria Dinielli and Laurie Madaus would like to remind everyone that the Annual Family Counseling Center Gala is an event that anyone may attend… as long as they purchase tickets in advance. The event has been held for the last eight years on the eve of Newtown’s Annual Holiday Festival, and Mrs Dinielli and Mrs Madaus have taken on the challenge of coordinating this year’s event.

The 9th Annual Gala will be Saturday, December 1, at Café on the Green in Danbury (adjacent to Richter Park Golf Course). It will run from 6:30 to 11:30 pm, and is black tie optional.

Tickets are $100 per person, which includes cocktails, dinner, dancing, and a live auction; $50 of each ticket is tax-deductible.

“We’re getting a great band for the music, and the food at Café on the Green is wonderful,” said Mrs Madaus. “This is open to anyone who wants to come, and it should be a lot of fun.”

Karen Murphy of Petal Pushers in Newtown will be donating two large floral arrangements for the event, as well as the candles. She will also be providing, at cost, additional flowers for each table’s centerpiece.

In addition to its location, one of the changes for this year’s gala is the auction format. In previous years, guests have been invited to place silent bids on items ranging from paintings, photographs, clothing, autographed books, decorative accessories, wine, and much more. This year the auction will be a live event.

Dr Richard Coopersmith, a chiropractor based in Newtown, will serve as the auctioneer.

“We’re honored to have him,” Mrs Dinielli said. “He has done auctions for other groups in the past, and he is incredibly charismatic.” Proceeds from the auction, gala ticket sales, and the Holiday Festival 2 will benefit Family Counseling Center, Inc, a mental health agency in Newtown.

This year’s auction includes golf packages; a tooth bleaching by Dental Associates; a “Day of Beauty” package at Ricci’s Salons; the use of a vacation home at Maine Lake Cottage for one week; the use of a Cape Cod beach house for one weekend; a day of fishing with newly-elected selectman Bill Meyer on his 24-foot fishing boat in Rhode Island; and a filled theme basket from Lexington Gardens.

There is also an overnight stay in a two-room deluxe suite at Ethan Allen in Danbury, including dinner and Sunday brunch, up for bid, as well as tickets to a New York Rangers game, a 14-carat gold bracelet from Sullivan Jewelers, and a sterling silver bracelet donated directly from Tiffany & Co., a Sony Trinitron television, and a pewter chandelier from one source that Newtown electrician Ken Burns has promised to install for the winning bidder.

“Everyone is really pulling together, and it’s turning into a very good thing,” Mrs Madaus said this week. The auction will be held after dinner and is expected to take between 30 and 40 minutes.

“Dr Coopersmith wanted us to keep it under 30 items so that it doesn’t get boring,” Mrs Madaus explained. Once the auction concludes, the dance floor will be opened for the remainder of the party.

The gala may be on December 1, but Mrs Madaus and Mrs Dinielli need early responses in order to give food orders to the restaurant (dinner choices are filet mignon, salmon Siciliano, and chicken Florentine) and to plan table arrangements, decorations, and floor layout. The sooner people call for their tickets, the better.

“We need responses quickly — capacity is only 180,” Ms Madaus pointed out.

Laurie Madaus can be contacted for tickets by calling 270-8639.