More than 100 supporters, including around a dozen who lined up before the doors opened, helped nearly wipe out the entire stock of wreaths and other novelty decorations offered December 2 at the Garden Club of Newtown's Holiday Greens & Gift Sale.gardenclubofnewtown.com

Shane Miller was among the early bird shoppers crowding into the Newtown Meeting House as doors opened at 9 am sharp, and she snapped up a beautifully designed riding horn wreath that was crafted by garden club member Debbie Osborne.

Club President Peggy Townsend was joined by many fellow volunteers who arrived early to be sure the first patrons were greeted with a burst of holiday accents, from wreaths strung along many of the benches to window sills and tabletops crammed with tiny ornaments to huge decorative displays.

While all the calculations were not completed at press time, Ms Townsend anticipated the Greens Sale generated substantially more for her group this year than last. The Garden Club of Newtown was established in 1955 and has performed annual work to help beautify Newtown.

Members have planted and maintained flora at the Matthew Curtiss House, the Victory and Blue Star Memorial Gardens, the Newtown Senior Center, and in the Knot Gardens at the Booth Library and Dickinson Park.

The club currently boasts 48 active members, many who planned and worked for weeks ahead of the sale designing and creating 65 one-of-a-kind wreaths and 70 other holiday-themed novelties to help raise funds for the group's civic projects.

Ms Townsend said the few novelties and centerpieces that remained when the Saturday sale was over were donated to Newtown Youth & Family Services for that group's Sunday Holiday Festival fundraiser, while a few remaining wreaths were delivered to the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the five local volunteer fire companies, and the Newtown Historical Society's Curtiss House.

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