Past members and guests joined current Flagpole Photography members to celebrate the club’s 40th Anniversary on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Over 40 people filled the room at the Newtown Senior Center where the club regularly meets. They were treated to a smorgasbord of food and drinks and delicious desserts including a commemorative cake that was cut jointly by the club’s oldest past president, Don Brooks, and the current club president, Melissa Bilotta.
Attendees were given raffle tickets as they walked into the room for a chance to win an assortment of items from club apparel and photography gear to gift cards. The drawing of winning tickets and the gifting of prizes turned out to be quite a crowd pleaser.
Throughout the evening, a slideshow was playing with over 1800 photos taken over the last 15 years of members enjoying competitions, programs, workshops, field trips, exhibits, conferences, scavenger hunts, community events and parties. There was also a photo booth set up with some specially made signs to add to the fun and create and preserve even more memories into the future.
Sandy Schill, the club’s New England Camera Club Council (NECCC) Rep and Photographic Society of America (PSA) Rep, was on hand to give out many awards to deserving members from competitions in both NECCC and PSA as well as the club’s Annual Competition held in May. It became quite apparent how much photographic talent was in the room!
Melissa Bilotta and Rhonda Cullens, who serves on the club’s board as Exhibit Chair, took turns talking about the past presidents in attendance. Rhonda also shared some stories about what it was like to hang club exhibits 15 years ago when the club began having exhibits that lasted more than just a weekend. She also asked for a show of hands of all those who had ever been a member of their “sister club,” Candlewood Camera Club of Danbury which was founded in 1948, 37 years before Flagpole. There was a very large number of hands in the air as a response to that question. When Flagpole first began in 1985, quite a few members of Candlewood also joined Flagpole to get the new club started and over the years the two clubs have maintained a close relationship.
Bill Glass, who has been a friend of the club and its members and who is also a photographer for The Newtown Bee, graciously accepted the club’s invitation to join the festivities. It was such a pleasure that he volunteered to take photos throughout the evening for the club’s use as well as submitting them to the Bee for publication. Bill also captured group photos of the past presidents, Don Brooks, Anne Eigen, Sandy Schill, Mark Ashbolt, Darrell Harrington, and Robyn Abrams along with current president Melissa Bilotta, as well as a large group shot of all those in attendance that were either current or former club members. A huge thank you to Bill for these wonderful photos! Over 100 of the event photos below were taken by Bill. Members have also submitted their photos taken at the party, which are also included below, and may upload more.
The evening was a great time to reconnect with people who have a shared passion for photography and celebrate an organization whose mission is to enable members to share their photos and expertise, to learn and grow in their photography, and to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow photographers!