15th Annual Holiday Festival Dominates Main Street On Sunday

By Shannon Hicks

For 14 years, the first Sunday in December has been reserved for the Newtown Holiday Festival, an afternoon-long event that has become something of a holiday season kickoff for Newtown. There are events for all ages to enjoy, and those of any religious affiliation can certainly enjoy the celebration. The 15th Annual Holiday Festival will be presented this year on Sunday, December 3, from 11 am to 5 pm (a crafts show and an antiques show will open at 10).

More than ever before, this year’s festival will truly be a Main Street event. The traditional walking tour of private homes includes two residences on Main Street, and one residence on Main Street South. The fourth home on this year’s tour, located on Tory Lane, can be reached via the shuttle buses running all afternoon.

Matthew Curtiss House (44 Main Street), Trinity Church (36 Main Street), and C.H. Booth Library (25 Main Street) will all be decorated for the holidays and open for visits during festival hours. Also open for tours will be the offices of The Bee Publishing Co., Inc., just off Main at 5 Church Hill Road.

New England Café, offering selected items from area restaurants, moves this year into the undercroft (lower level) of Trinity Church, at 31 Main Street, while the Victorian Tea, with mulled cider, scones, and tea breads, returns to the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, at 45 Main Street.

An antiques show featuring quality dealers with Victoriana, country furniture, fine folk art, antique toys, fine china, silver, and more returns to the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall. The arts and crafts show, with area crafters presenting cloth dolls, stained glass, holiday decorations, dried flower arrangements, toys, and more, moves this year to Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West Street.

A family workshop will be presented in the lower level of Newtown Meeting House, 31 Main Street. This will be running from 1:30 to 5 pm and is a family event – children will be invited to participate in face painting, family crafts, and visit with Santa, but parents must remain in attendance (children cannot be dropped off at the workshop).

(Music plays a large part of the festival each year. See a separate story, including the times of each scheduled performance, in this week’s Enjoy section.)

And finally, the Festival of Trees will offer visitors the chance to take part in a raffle for decorated trees and wreaths donated by area organizations, shops, and individuals. Set up in the lower meeting room of C.H. Booth Library, the Festival of Trees will also have door prizes available for children.

Tickets for all events of the Holiday Festival – aside from the crafts show and the antiques show – are required for admission. The tickets are available in advance (through the end of business on December 2) for $12 each for adults at C.H. Booth Library, Newtown Savings Bank, and Family Counseling Center. On Sunday, adult tickets will be $15 each and can be purchased from the box office of Edmond Town Hall. Tickets for children and seniors will be $8 regardless of when they are purchased.

The event is a fundraiser for Family Counseling Center, Inc., a non-profit family counseling agency at 123 Mt Pleasant Road in Newtown. The majority of the proceeds are derived from the sale of Festival tickets, which provide entry into most of the day’s events including the antiques show and sale and the arts and crafts show and sale, along with the walking tour of historic homes and businesses.

Established in 1983 as the Family Life Center and located at that time in Sandy Hook, Family Counseling Center is a United Way-supported agency that serves the greater Danbury and Southbury areas. Additional accreditation came three years ago, when the agency was accepted by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children.

Also in 1997, the organization changed its name from Family Life Center to Family Counseling Center. The agency’s board of directors voted unanimously to do so in order to more clearly reflect the agency’s purpose and functions. That fall, the business relocated into spacious new offices at 123 Mt Pleasant Road.

The Center may have changed its name and location, but its mission remains the same: to encourage and enrich families, couples, children, and individuals of all ages. Its mission also continues to be to provide services to the people who need them, regardless of their ability to pay.

The Family Counseling Center is an outpatient psychiatric clinic. Counseling services include individual, couple, family, children’s play therapy, group therapy, support groups, 24-hour crisis intervention, and psychiatric assessment. On a limited basis, the center’s staff can also provide educational and prevention and awareness programs. In September 1998, the center began offering an outpatient substance abuse program for adults ages 18 to 65.