21st Annual Offering Will Be December 3—

The 2006 Holiday Festival Is Just Around The Corner

By Shannon Hicks

The 2006 Holiday Festival will take place Sunday, December 3. Most events of the festival are returning, some have been scrapped altogether, and one major element of the festival will take place a few months down the road.

Laura Miller Kurtz and Layne Lescault are the co-chairmen of this year’s event, the 21st annual festival.

The largest draw to the event is expected to once again be the walking tours of historic Newtown homes, which will be open from 11 am until 5 pm. Holiday Festival planners had originally been looking at four homes for this year’s event, but a fifth house has been confirmed.

Local decorators will be showcasing their talents in the homes, which will have house captains on hand to share historic backgrounds and answer questions. A preview of the homes on the tour will be presented in next week’s Newtown Bee.

An antiques show will be presented in the gymnasium at Edmond Town Hall from 10 am until 5 pm. Eighteen dealers were confirmed for the show as of November 17, leaving only four available spaces at press time.

Admission to the antiques show will be included with a Holiday Festival tickets, or $5 for the show alone.

The town hall’s auditorium will also host a performance of Nutcracker Suite by Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company at 12:30 (see separate story above), and a screening of How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) at 3 pm. Admission to the ballet performance is free for those with Holiday Festival tickets, or $5 without a Holiday Festival ticket. Admission to the movie is $5 for everyone. Proceeds from the ballet and the movie will all benefit Family Counseling Center.

“Either of these events will offer something for parents and kids to do together,” Ms Lescault said of the ballet and film.

Another offering for the family is the Children’s Workshop, running from 1 to 3 pm at the town hall. Photos with Santa and opportunities to make arts and crafts will be the focus of this event.

Those who enjoy the Festival of Trees can start looking forward to this year’s offering. Mrs Lescault has been working with Girl Scouts, whom she credits as giving “a lot of help” in the past, to pull this year’s Festival of Trees together.

“It’s one of their service projects, and they really put their heart into it,” she said.

“The Festival of Trees is coming together tremendously,” Ms Lescault said last week. That event will be set up in the lower meeting room of Booth Library, with bidding from 11 am until 4:30 pm. Winners will start being announced around 5 and while winners do not need to be present when their names are called, they do need to be available to return to the library either by 7 pm Sunday or between 10 am and noon on Monday.

A Victorian Tea will be back in The Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, with teas and scones on the menu and live music by local musicians.

An arts and crafts show, which was not part of last year’s festival, will not return again this year.

“We really want the focus of the day to be on Main Street, and there just isn’t a large enough space for arts and crafts,” Mrs Lescault said regretfully. “It’s a shame. That was a popular event.

“On the other hand,” she pointed out last week, “we do have a number of very good arts and crafts shows in town in the weeks leading up to the festival.”

One new element to the festival will be The Giving Tree. An artificial tree to be placed in the lobby of Edmond Town Hall, The Giving Tree will have paper snowflakes hanging from its branches, and the snowflakes will have different denominations that can be donated to Family Counseling Center. The tree has been part of the Festival Gala in the past, but the gala is being reconfigured this year and will be held a few months down the road (see details below).

“We’re always struggling to help clients get the coverage they deserve,” said Beth Barton, the executive director of Family Counseling Center. “Even the best insurance generally covers only 60 cents on every dollar.”

At least 38 percent of FCC’s clients need some amount of financial aid for their counseling.

“People are woefully underinsured,” agreed Joan Bird, the finance director for FCC. “The number of visits they are allowed annually is almost always limited.”

Donations received by Family Counseling Center through The Giving Tree help cover everything from basic supplies to insurance and counseling coverage.

Mrs Lescault is very optimistic about the approaching festival.

“I’m really excited about the festival this year,” she said. “It seems like there are a lot of different things available, and a lot of effort is going into making things run smoothly. A lot of people are getting involved.

“Things are coming together so well,” she added. “In fact, Carol Henry has already finished the program guide [a task that usually is being finished in the days leading into the festival], so that’s a huge relief for many of us.

“There is a great effort this year to pull together and try new things.”

Volunteer Opportunities Aplenty

While many of the committees for the 2006 Holiday Festival have already been formed, there are still openings on many of them.

“We always have volunteer opportunities,” Mrs Lescault said, “especially on the day of the festival. We’re also looking for committee members.”

Committees covering each of the events — the antiques show, Victorian Tea, programs, House Tours, etc — can always use help.

For the day of the festival, there is a need for house captains (people to answer questions about each property as well as to keep an eye on the flow of visitors through each house at any time), transportation, putting up and taking down signs and fliers, and too many to mention here.

Anyone who likes to bake can donate scones and tea bread for the Victorian Tea. Call Maureen Birden, who coordinated that event with Carol Mahoney, at 364-2915, if you will be able to volunteer baked goods. Anyone who can help with serving during the tea is also welcome to contact either lady.

Layne Lescault says there is an urgent need for volunteers to help with set-up and take-down of the antiques show.

“We need strong young men to help us with the load-in, which will start at 6 am,” she said. “We’ll provide plenty of coffee and bagels.”

Contact Mrs Lescault, 270-6481, or Family Counseling Center (426-4874 extension 21), for full details.

Additional Events

While not officially part of the Holiday Festival, there will be additional offerings for folks of all ages on Sunday afternoon.

Trinity Episcopal Church will present its annual Advent Lessons and Carols service at 2 pm.

Newtown Choral Society will present its annual holiday concert, this year to feature Conrad Susa’s “Carols and Lullabies” in Spanish and English (among other offerings) at 4 pm. Tickets are $9 and can be purchased at the door.

And Newtown Historical Society will have the Matthew Curtiss House open. Special guests Frank and Sandy Navone will be showing and carving some of their wooden folk art Santas.

Gala On The March

For 20 years the festival has been the single largest annual fundraiser for Family Counseling Center, a not-for-profit agency begun in 1983 to meet the changing needs of individuals and families in the greater Danbury and Southbury area through counseling, support groups, education, and referral services.

It was announced earlier this year that the counseling center will merge as of January 1, 2007, with Newtown Youth Services, creating a new agency to be called Newtown Youth & Family Services, Inc.

The biggest change to the Holiday Festival this year is the shuffling of the Holiday Festival Gala, a black tie event traditionally held on the eve of the festival, to March.

“Newtown Youth Services usually has its gala dinner dance then, so the counseling center will join them in March,” said Ms Lescault. “This way we won’t be planning two galas almost back-to-back.

“Save the date,” she added. “We will be combined with Newtown Youth Services by then, so it will be a great celebration.”

Presale Tickets

Until December 1, tickets can be purchased at their presale price: $23 for adults, $18 for children and seniors. Tickets are available at Family Counseling Center, C.H. Booth Library, Drug Center and The Little Green Barn; Newtown Savings Bank branch offices in Newtown, Bethel, Danbury, Monroe, and Southbury; Union Savings Bank locations in Newtown and Bethel.

Day-Of Tickets

On the day of the festival, tickets will increase to $25 for adults and $20 for children and seniors. They will be sold at Edmond Town Hall and C.H. Booth Library.

Family Counseling Center, at 121 Mt Pleasant Road, can be reached at 426-8103 for advance tickets and additional information.