Notable Anniversaries Of 2010

By Nancy K. Crevier

When Beryl Harrison started working at the C.H. Booth Library in 1990, she had already put her reference librarian degree to use at several libraries across the country, and had spent the most recent years volunteering and substituting at school libraries here in town while raising her family. In 2010, Ms Harrison celebrated her 20th anniversary at the library. The C.H. Booth Library she walked into two decades ago bears only a slight resemblance to the vibrant, community-oriented gathering place the Main Street landmark has become today, she recalled. The changes are due in great part to two things, said Ms Harrison: the addition that opened in 1998 and computer technology.

Julie Allen Bridals celebrated 40 years of business, Thursday, April 1, and owner Melanie Mattegat recalled her mother and founder, the late Julia Allen, telling Ms Mattegat’s father that April day in 1970, “If the business doesn’t go well, it will be a great April Fool’s joke.” Four decades later, though, the bridal salon is no joking matter. From a home-based business run from Julia Allen’s Head O’ Meadow home for 20 years and at two South Main Street locations under the ownership of Melanie and Jay Mattegat, the local bridal shop has become the second largest such shop in the state, and one that is respected throughout the industry for quality and customer service.

It was anniversary time in 2010, as well, for the Town Players’ Little Theatre on Orchard Hill Road in Newtown. The community theater has been entertaining audiences for 75 years. Town Players’ board members Marge Rogers, Ethyle Power, Ruth Anne Baumgartner, Mary Poile, and Chris Bird reminisced as the theater’s season began this spring about the history of The Little Theatre, which draws actors and directors from around the region, some professional, others amateurs, and provides entertainment to appeal to a broad audience, from May through December. The diamond anniversary celebratory year began with a one-night 1930s-style cabaret in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, April 24, and theatergoers were able to take advantage of special 75th anniversary ticket packages during the season.

In honor of The Little Theatre’s milestone anniversary, the Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee saw fit to name Marge Rogers, a longtime Newtown resident and a member of the Town Players for 47 years, as the parade’s 2010 Grand Marshal, and chose “On Stage In Newtown” as this year’s parade theme.

Congratulations to these, and to all others who celebrated milestones in 2010.