Shown accepting the award in photo above are, from left to right, Essex Printing’s President: William McMinn, Old Lyme Fire Department’President: Rob McCarthy, book designer: James Meehan, and author: Michaelle Pearson.
OLD LYME—The Print Industry of New England (PINE) announced on May 9, 2024 that Essex Printing and the Old Lyme Fire Department (OLFD) have received the Pinnacle Award in PINE’s New England Regional Awards of Excellence competition.
Judged anonymously on its own merit in the soft cover book category with similar printed pieces, the award was for the Old Lyme Fire Department 100th Anniversary (1923-2023) book.
The Pinnacle Award is given to the most outstanding entry in each category, and must be flawless to win.
Congratulations from all of us at LymeLine to you all!
Dr. Chris Shepard Appointed to Replace Bruce, Associate Music Director Susan Saltus Also Retiring
Dr. Stephen Bruce is retiring as Founding Music Director of Con Brio Choral Society in July 2025.
After 28 years as the Founding Music Director of Con Brio Choral Society, Dr. Stephen Bruce of Groton has announced his retirement, commencing in July 2025.
Dr. Bruce has directed the group since the organization’s founding in 1997. Under his baton, Con Brio has grown to be one of the leading choruses in the region, regularly performing to packed houses.
Con Brio’s Associate Music Director Susan Saltus is also retiring.
Dr. Bruce has also led eight highly successful European Concert Tours. Following his retirement, he will not be leaving, but will join the bass section, and will hold the honorary title of Music Director Emeritus.
Also retiring in July 2025 will be Con Brio’s Associate Music Director Susan Saltus of Essex. Saltus has served in that role since 2009 with great distinction and has played many key roles in Con Brio’s success.
Con Brio wishes to thank Stephen Bruce and Susan Saltus for their extraordinary service and looks forward to the 2024-2025 concert season, which will celebrate their unique contribution, culminating in Gala Farewell Concerts on April 5 and 6, 2025.
Appointment of New Music Director
Con Brio’s Board has announced the appointment of Dr. Chris Shepard of Clinton as its new Music Director, commencing in August 2025. He is a renowned choral conductor, voice coach, arts ambassador, pianist, organist, and distinguished Bach scholar.
Dr. Chris Shepard of Clinton takes over as Con Brio’s new Music Director in August 2025.
In addition to this new position, Shepard continues—now in his 10th year—as Artistic Director of Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA), the state’s oldest professional choir and as Director of The Complete Bach, a project that will be America’s first presentation of all of Bach’s works. Based in Worcester, Mass. The project’s performances will occur over the next 11 years.
Shepard is also in his 16th year as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus in Massachusetts.
He holds degrees from the Hartt School, the Yale School of Music and the University of Sydney. He researched the performance history of Bach Mass in B Minor for his PhD—his dissertation won the American Choral Directors Association’s 2012 Julius Herford Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis in choral music.
For more information about Con Brio Choral Society, visit www.conbrio.org.
Editor’s Note: The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme’s 86th Annual White Elephant Sale is over. The results have not yet been finalized but we are hearing it was perhaps yet another record-breaking success. But how do the organizers pull it off year after year? We received this delightful series of cartoons from Edie Twining illustrating how the remarkably efficient sorting process is followed prior to the sale.She also sent a written description of the steps that are pursued with precision and expressed her thanks to all involved for welcoming her as one of the volunteers. Twining submitted the artwork and text as a ‘Comment’ but we have chosen to share them as our lead story today because, in our opinion, they offer such a pleasant way to start the week. OLD LYME—The volunteers at the White Elephant Sale are an amazing group of people from all denominations and all persuasions. We all work in our sections sorting miles and miles of donations.
Art & Frames.
A typical morning of intake consists of a rush of ‘in-takers’ unloading vehicles and unpacking plastic crates, cardboard boxes and garbage bags.
Cleaning, sorting, tagging.
Each item is sorted into rows of shopping carts along one side of the hall and tables across from them. Big yellow signs indicate categories like: pots ‘n’ pans, appliances, books, music, men’s, kid’s, women’s clothes, toys, shoes, art, fine goods, kitchen, knick-knacks, linens, etc. …
Pots ‘n’ Pans
The carts are rolled down to departments or the elevator and taken to Sunday School rooms in the basement where sorters clean, sort and tag every item. Bag after bag of clothing is distributed to Men’s, Kid’s and Women’s departments. Some days you can barely get by the piles of bags of women’s clothes. Helpers hang each item onto a rolling rack or place it into Accessories bins.
OLD LYME—It may have been a little damp but the eagerly-anticipated White Elephant Sale hosted by the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme duly opened yesterday on the first strike of the church clock at 9 a.m. It was open again Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, when most items were half-price.
Waiting for the bell to peal — but all ready for the crowd to surge!
Organized by the LBS (Ladies Benevolent Society) of the church, the sale has been a summer mainstay of the area since 1936 (except for two years due to the pandemic).
It was all action both inside and outside at the sale yesterday.
Here are 10 facts about the White Elephant Sale that you may not know:
In the earliest years of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme – in the mid- to late 1600s – the women of the church cooked food and sewed clothing to raise money to help support the church’s charitable projects.
In 1888, the women of the church officially formed the Neck Road Society and, over the years, the Society held concerts, socials and other events to raise money for local causes.
By 1917, the Society was holding suppers for the men in the Connecticut National Guard.
In 1920, the Society held its first-ever rummage sale – a small event confined to a single room of the church – which raised $200 for charity, a surprising amount of money at the time.
The name, “White Elephant Sale,” was given to the event in 1936 and it thereafter became an annual tradition.
Umbrellas were the early order of the day yesterday.
In the 1950s, the sale briefly expanded to include a country fair, horse show and square dance; then in subsequent decades, evolved into the popular, two-day local tradition we enjoy today.
During and after World War II, the Society used the proceeds of the sale to support a variety of international charitable causes – including helping an orphan from Czechoslovakia, a church in England and children in China. (Today it benefits more than 25 nonprofit organizations across our region and around the world.)
Sometime during mid- to late- 1900s, the name of the group was changed to the Ladies Benevolent Society. Since that time, as the Society has expanded to include men as well as women, and people of varying faiths and backgrounds, the Society has increasingly gone by just its initials, “LBS.”
In 2020 and 2021, the sale was canceled for the first (and only) times in its long history due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Proceeds from the sale benefit the many ministries of the church, including a wide variety of local, national, and international endeavors such as food pantries, health organizations, family support centers, children’s programs, literacy volunteers, affordable housing, native American causes, social justice initiatives, and disaster relief.
Plants, pots, vases and so much more.
While there are other garage and rummage sales throughout the year, few can match the size, color, camaraderie, and excitement of this one. Renowned for its quality merchandise, you will find antiques, art, books, bikes, canoes, clothing, collectibles, kayaks, kitchenware, musical instruments, shoes, ski equipment, tools, toys and more.
Jim Fairfield-Sonn (left) and Roger Nosal joined the throng in the search for bargains.
Volunteers are needed in every area of the sale. If you would like to volunteer, call the church office at 860-434-8686.
With reference to Howard Margules recent Op-Ed published in LymeLine.com, ineffective leadership by Old Lyme’s First Selectperson has been the root cause for ongoing issues with the Lymes’ Senior Center renovation and the going-nowhere Halls Road Improvement Project. The failure to appoint competent individuals to manage these projects is a major factor in their ongoing issues.
Only in Old Lyme is a renovation project, (the Lymes’ Senior Center) that is 9 months behind schedule and $900,000 over budget before construction begins, called a successful and well run project.
Only in OId Lyme are town residents told the Halls Road Improvements are coming when all major funding requests from the state and federal agencies have been denied due to failures at the local level to submit a proper application.
Old Lyme’s Board of Selectmen make the appointments to the committees that are responsible for the projects mentioned above yet major decisions affecting these projects are made primarily by the First Selectperson thus eliminating an honest discussion by the full board. This is an ongoing problem.
