Elks Lodge 957 Veterans Committee to Host Free-to-the-Public Spring Craft Fair April 23 Featuring Major Raffle; Pasta Dinner Tickets Available On-Line Now
New Britain, Conn., April 19, 2022 – The Wreaths Across America New Britain 2022 Planning Committee and its many friends and supporters, including New Britain Elks Lodge 957, are busily gearing up for what they hope will be a banner fundraising year with an Elks-hosted Spring Craft Fair at the Lodge this Saturday, and the Committee’s very own annual Pasta Dinner on May 11, the project’s largest annual fundraiser.
This Saturday’s Spring Craft Fair at the historic 30 Washington Street Elks Lodge, taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., is free and open to the public with free parking available at the City’s Badolato Garage across the street. Hosted by the Elks 957 Veteran Committee, the Fair will feature more than 30 craft vendors, a Food Court including an Elks Antlers Youth Group bake sale, and on-site ticket sales for the Elks’ big Month-of-May Prize-a-Day Raffle, which will feature 31 daily drawings during the month of May with terrific prizes valued at $25-$200 daily. Raffle tickets are only $10 each and are also available online at www.elks957.org (click on the WAANB Craft Fair & Antlers Bake Sale link on the home page under Announcements and Upcoming Events at a Glance).
“This is a wonderful event for a great cause, with literally dozens of fantastic vendors offering hand-made crafts perfect for the upcoming Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Graduation Day gift-giving season,” said Megan Boyles, Craft Fair Event Coordinator. Items available for sale, said Boyles, will include crystals, silk floral arrangements, artisan soaps, home decor, jewelry, hair accessories, candles, specialty food items including grass-fed beef and more. Among the vendors on hand will be popular crafters Blue & Pink Art, specializing in whimsical prints; Angelina’s Amazing Cakes; and Blissful Bee, offering custom drinkware, handmade crayons, onesies, pens, bookmarks, home decor and more.
The Pasta Dinner will take place Wednesday, May 11 at VFW Post 511, 41 Veterans Drive, New Britain, from 5-8 p.m. The family-friendly event (children under 12 are free with an adult admission) always draws a huge crowd of Wreaths Across America supporters and will feature homemade pasta, meatballs and salad and music provided by the Connecticut National Guard Brass Quintet. Also featured will be a gigantic MegaRaffle with dozens of valuable prizes and a 50/50 raffle with a minimum $500 prize.
Tickets for the Pasta Dinner are only $15, with tables of eight available for $100. Advance sales are encouraged; tickets and tables are available at www.davchapter8.org/wreaths-across-america-new-britain.
“Our Pasta Dinner is this project’s biggest fundraiser and we are hoping the Greater New Britain community will respond as it always does, supporting this event, our Spring Craft Fair and the Elks Lodge Month-of-May Raffle,” said Dorothy Weber, Wreaths Across America New Britain 2022 Chair. “We need the community’s support to make this project the success it has always been.”
Wreaths Across America New Britain, organized annually by the Disabled American Veterans, Hardware City Chapter 8 and a large Planning Committee of volunteers from Greater New Britain’s business, non-profit and veterans service organization communities, features the placement of more than 1,250 holiday wreaths on gravesites in the various veterans sections of Fairview Cemetery each December. The event is part of the Wreaths Across America (WAA) national non-profit organization founded in 2007 to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. WAA’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington and at veterans cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states. Two million volunteers take part annually.
The 2022 event, featuring in New Britain ceremonial wreath layings, special guest speakers and student performers, takes place on December 17.
WAANB 2021-2022 Patriot Sponsors include Starling Physicians, Green Designs, Masons Unity Lodge 148, the Mayor’s Trophy Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain and Al and Suzanne Parlow. Red Sponsors include Scope Construction, Companion Industries, Northwestern Veterans TGM Post, Perkins Travel, William and Donna Rutola and Puerto Vallarta. White Sponsors include Richards Machine, the Tomasso Group, Walmart, Staples, the A.W. Stanley Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin and Gerry and Lisa Amodio. Boosters include Dorothy and Andrew Nicholas and Cahill & Associates.
The New Britain Herald is Media Sponsor.
To become a sponsor, buy a wreath or make a donation to support the cause, or to learn more about the event, upcoming fundraisers and all of DAV Hardware City Chapter 8’s activities on behalf of New Britain-area veterans, visit www.davchapter8.org.