Ridgefield To Honor Town Clerk At Martin Luther King Day Celebration

**News Release Submitted by The Ridgefield Playhouse**

Dec. 15, 2022

On Monday January 16, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm, the Town of Ridgefield will present the 27th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, honoring the legacy of the great civil rights leader with an awards ceremony, speakers and performances. The Spirit of Dr. King Community Service Award is presented each year to a member of our town who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to community service and selflessness in the finest traditions of Dr. Martin Luther King. This annual tradition honors the memory of Dr. King and celebrates how that memory lives on in the good works of Ridgefielders today. This year’s ceremony honors Wendy Lionetti, who has served the community of Ridgefield – both officially and unofficially – for nearly 20 years, in the Town Assessor’s office, the First Selectman’s office and now as Town Clerk. Wendy volunteers her time and service to several community activities and organizations, including SPHERE, where she launched SPHERE-It Creations several years ago and holds weekly jewelry-making workshops with SPHERE members. The 27th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration will take place on Monday, January 16 at 3pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse.

Begun in 1997 as one of several community activities and initiatives organized and sponsored by ROUND (Ridgefielders Organized for Understanding and Diversity), the MLK celebration has become an enduring and highly regarded new tradition in Ridgefield. The purpose is to ensure that the spirit with which Dr. King lived and the struggles for which he died are remembered and live on in the hearts and minds of our community. When Rudy Marconi took office as First Selectman in 1999, he became Ridgefield’s first elected official to formally participate and has joined Mark Robinson as a co-organizer of the event ever since.

Over the years the town’s MLK Jr. Day celebration has changed and grown, from standing on the steps outside of the Community Center, to becoming a larger event in the basement of Town Hall, to becoming even more celebratory when moved to The Ridgefield Playhouse in 2013. This is now the tenth year that the Martin Luther King Day ceremony has been held at The Ridgefield Playhouse and the event has grown with multiple performers and drawing crowds upwards of 250 attendees.

“The town looks forward to the celebration of the King Holiday. The King Holiday serves as a focal point for establishing and maintaining community service involving millions of Americans throughout the year to address critical social problems of this nation and to help improve the quality of life for humankind,” said Mark Robinson, ceremony organizer and former member of the state’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission.

“The Martin Luther King Day celebration has become an enduring and highly regarded new tradition in Ridgefield. Our purpose is to ensure that the spirit with which Dr. King lived and the struggles for which he died are remembered and live on in the hearts and minds of our community.”