Regardless Of Mother Nature, This Weekend Is A Good Time For A Picnic

The tables and linens have been arranged for, electric candles will offer a warm glow, and the artwork is in the process of being picked up. Rehearsals began last Sunday, and the programs were being printed by midweek. It may be getting chillier by the day outside, but there is going to be a picnic this weekend in the center of Newtown.

Final arrangements for “An American Picnic,” a fundraising event suitable for all ages, were being taken care of this week by Jackie Gaudet and a number of her friends in preparation for Saturday, November 17. The evening outing will take place in the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall, and on Tuesday night Ms Gaudet received some good news for her efforts. After meeting with the town hall’s board of managers, she learned that there would not be a fee for the use of the gymnasium space.

“They were so nice,” she commented Wednesday morning. “There are so many people from Newtown and the area who are involved in putting this together, and we’ve had very good response in terms of hearing from people planning to attend. It was wonderful of the board to let us have this space.”

The evening will be both a remembrance and celebration of the American spirit and a benefit for the children and families of Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that had offices at the World Trade Center in New York City.

“An American Picnic” will run from 6 to 10 pm. It will offer music, dance, and singing by local professional and amateur musicians, light refreshments, and a silent auction. Suggested donation is $20 for adults, and $10 for children, with family rates available. Families, couples, and singles are all welcome. Attendees can pack a picnic dinner (BYOB), although light refreshments will also be available during the evening.

Ms Gaudet is counting on friends and students for much of the musical portion of the evening. The performances will begin at 7, and will feature some of the area’s best professional, semiprofessional, and student singers and dancers.

Joe Jacovino, the accompanist of Connecticut Master Chorale and organist and choir director at St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, will be the evening’s accompanist. Ms Gaudet’s friends also include the singers Brianne Chasanoff, Mike Forbes, Seth Lefferts, Cheryl Lichtenstein, Tom Sheehan, and the drummer Bobby Leonard.

Students from Newtown Music Studio, as well as New York City Opera singer Pamela Hoffman, some of Ms Hoffman’s students, and dancer Jennifer Turey will also be performing.

The group has been rehearsing at Newtown Congregational Church.

The silent auction will offer a number of paintings and photographs, art quilts, a wreath, a collectible ornament, an antique from The Mill in Sandy Hook, and a floral arrangement from Petal Pushers in Newtown.

Drug Center, on Church Hill Road in Newtown, has donated the electric candles for the tables. The tables themselves are coming through a discount by Durant’s Rental in Danbury, and they will be covered with linens that have all been donated by Robert Geremiah of Savoy Linens in Stratford. Additionally, some of the framing for the silent auction items has been donated by Steve Kovel of Koenig Frameworks in Newtown.

Ms Gaudet has promised to forward all money collected through “An American Picnic” to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund. Anyone who would like to donate to the fund but is unable to attend “An American Picnic” can send a check, made out to the fund, to Newtown Music Studio, PO Box 7, 111 Church Hill Road, Sandy Hook, CT 06482. The donations are tax deductible.

For additional information or to reserve tickets for Saturday’s event, call 270-8915.