New Hope and Lambertville mothers will be celebrated with live musical performances and special honors for four mothers.
By: Sue Kramer
Although Mother’s Day is still two months away, plans are already in the works for a Mother’s Day Celebration that will span both New Hope and Lambertville.
Mother’s Day weekend, May 12-13, will feature live musical performances and special honors for four mothers, with a touch of the theatrical and a little bit of Hollywood thrown in.
The celebration kicks off with a poster contest that is being sponsored by Colloquium Depot Ltd., of New Hope. The judging will be by the J&W Gallery, of New Hope. First, second, and third place winners will receive an award.
The poster contest will be followed by a host of youth volunteers who will be designing Mother’s Day T-shirts and campaign hats. The campaign hats also will be judged.
Then, there will be 1,500 red and white carnations. The flowers will be given to mothers in New Hope and Lambertville throughout the weekend.
The highlight of the festivities will be an awards concert, scheduled for Saturday, May 12. Guests will be entertained by Jenny Bray and her four-piece band.
Four area mothers will then be surprised in a "This is Your Life" type awards ceremony. They will be honored by not only their family, but also the community for their outstanding deeds.
Gabrielle Goodman, a professional singer and associate professor of music at the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, will perform with her band. She will sing a selection of Roberta Flack songs.
All this is the brainchild of New Hope’s R. Ashton "Wraggs" Wall, who wants to do nothing more than put the Lambertville-New Hope area on the map as the premiere place to honor mothers.
"I was missing my mother on Mother’s Day," Ms. Wall said of her inspiration for the celebration.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Ms. Wall’s talents became evident at an early age. She is also a trained opera singer who has performed at Town Hall, Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall in New York.
"When I came to New Hope," she said, "I was expecting many things to be in place that were not. So I decided, when I came here and fell in love with the place, that I want to be in the theater, and I would create what I think should be here."
She started by creating her nonprofit organization, Colloquium Depot, Ltd., which is specifically designed "to bring diversity and enjoyment, through entertainment and theater, to the total family, including youth, adults, senior citizens, and the physically challenged."
And, although she’s only lived in New Hope for two years, Ms. Wall wasted no time in bringing an original production to the area. The world premiere of Ms. Wall’s own musical play, "Colours," had its debut at the Stephen S. Buck Theater last November.
While music and producing original theater are never far from her mind, Ms. Wall says it’s the Mother’s Day Celebration that is first on her list of priorities right now.
"I thought that if I could do something that celebrated all mothersI’m certainly not the only one who misses their mom, and the nurturing, and the cooking, conversations, the laughter, and going and doing. If I could create something that everyone could enjoy with me, then I would do that.
"No one was doing anything about Mother’s Day here," she continued. "And it’s the perfect place for it: An artistic town, with people always coming in and looking to do things."And so, she began to plan a Mother’s Day Celebration that would honor all mothers.
"I’m trying to touch base with as many people in Lambertville and New Hope that I can," she continued.
The poster contest, which is open to all adults with artistic talent, kicks off today, Thursday. The poster formats can be picked up at Colloquium Depot, Ltd., 350 S. River Road, C2, New Hope. Completed posters must be returned to Colloquium Depot, Ltd. no later than March 28. They will be judged on April 2.
Ms. Wall has also been working closely with area churches in the selection of 20 youth volunteers.
"That’s going to be a lot of fun," Ms. Wall said. "We’re going to pick 20 youths
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please check the notes on the quote. more than one youth would be youths.-NT>10 from Lambertville and 10 from New Hopeand they will be my youth volunteers. Once they are identified, they will go to the painted T-shirt program. Edith Lamonica, who’s a local artist, and a well-known artist, will be heading that up."
The youth volunteers also will be designing original "campaign hats" under the direction of Lambertville Public School art teacher Dolores Dragan.
Both the hats and the posters will be auctioned at a special program in the fall.
All of this will culminate in an 8 p.m. awards concert at the Stephen S. Buck Theater at the New Hope-Solebury High School on May 12. The cost of tickets is $20, with part of the proceeds going to the Delaware Valley Council of Churches.
The selection of the four honored mothers will again involve the local churches. The two mothers from New Hope and two from Lambertville will each be chosen based on recommendations from their churches.
"We have three names already," Ms. Wall said. "It’s going to be hard putting that (surprise) together, because they won’t know until they hear a family member off stage" paying tribute to them. "And, she will know then that she will get the award."
The honored moms will be escorted to the stage where they will be greeted by New Hope Mayor Larry Keller and Lambertville Mayor David Del Vecchio, who will then present the awards.
For more information, Ms. Wall can be contacted at (215) 862-0634. Donations to support the Mother’s Day Celebration can be sent to Colloquium Depot.