They call this little town in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut
“Christmas Town” with good reason. Bethlehem’s Christmas Town Festival is scheduled for December 2 and 3, celebrating its 42nd birthday this
year as one of New England’s favorite ways to kick off the season. Wherever you
turn, special treats are waiting, from the town green to the post office to the
Abbey of Regina Laudis and the 1754 Bellamy-Ferriday House. Some of the unique attractions
continue when the festival is over. The opening ceremony and Tree Lighting on the Green will take place on Friday, December 2 @ 6 p.m. with Honorary Emcee WFSB TV3 News personality, Irene O'Connor. On Saturday only there is a Santa Made Me Do It 5K road race that begins at 10 a.m. For details click here.
Vendors and More On the Green
The quaint town green, centered with a giant tree, is home
to over 70 vendors with unique gift items, wreaths, and delicious foods for
sale. Strolling carolers and musicians help keep things lively, Santa will be waiting
at the firehouse to pose for pictures with young friends, and everyone is
invited to climb aboard for hayrides offered in front of First Church.
Collectors can garner this year’s unique limited edition Christmas Town pewter
ornament, sold only during the Festival.
Bethlehem’s beautiful eighteenth-century Bellamy-Ferriday
House & Garden will be festively decorated and open for tours and holiday
cheer during festival hours. Guides will offer house tours and there will
be hot cider and a scavenger hunt for children. The home is located at 9 Main
Street North, information can be found at www.ctlandmarks.org
Hours for the Christmas Town Festival are Friday, December 2 from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 3, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For
more information, see www.christmastownfestival.com or phone 203-266-7510, ext.
300.
Christmas Town Mailings at the Post Office
The Bethlehem post office is busy in December serving the
many who come every year to mail holiday cards with their unique postmarks. Visitors can select favorites among the
“Christmas Cachet” designs, hand-stamp, and mail these unique greetings to
friends and family. The idea of the special stamps dates to 1938, when a local
Postmaster, the late Earl Johnson, designed a “cachet,” a special rubber stamp
featuring a tree and lettering that said, “From the Little Town of Bethlehem,
Christmas Greetings.” New cachets have been added almost every year since. Over
70 designs are now available and nearly 200,000 cards are mailed each year from
this small post office. Located at 34
East Street, the post office will have extended hours during the festival,
Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Precious Crèches at the Abbey
One of Bethlehem’s not-to-be-missed jewels is open all month
for visitors. The museum-quality eighteenth-century Neapolitan crèche on view
in a vintage barn at the Abbey of Regina Laudis includes hundreds of beautiful hand-carved
figures. Made of wood, terra cotta, and porcelain, the figures portray the Holy
Family, angels, the Three Kings, merchants and peddlers, children, peasants, and
farm animals. This fabulous gift from artist
and philanthropist Loretta Hines Howard is similar to the one Howard donated to
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is prominently displayed every
Christmas.
A second Crèche, The Lauren Ford Crèche, created by a
favorite Connecticut artist, is displayed in a farm shed near the Lower Abbey
Chapel. This charming rustic Nativity scene displays figures of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph dressed in typical New England garb.
The Monastic Art Shop on the property offers crafts,
cheeses, jams, herbal teas, flavored vinegar, herbs, and honey, all created
on-site by Abbey’s residents.
The Abbey of Regina Laudis, located at 249 Flanders Road, is
open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.abbeyofreginalaudis.org
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