BY RYAN O’CONNOR
Once a month in 2007, Hopkinton and Contoocook residents can turn to the featured Artist of the Month in the Rotary’s new calendar.
The 2007 calendar featuring the artwork of 60 Hopkinton students in grades 1 through 12, was first offered to residents who turned out to vote on Nov. 7.
One of the students came up to Rotarian Bruce Salsbury on Election Day and showed him his picture in the calendar.
“You could see the pride and the joy in his face, just, ‘Wow my picture is really there.’ That made it all worth it, all the effort. It was great,” Salsbury said.
The Rotary has been offering the calendars for several years, and sales are used to support the community.
“It started as a historic calendar and then we had one year with current pictures, then the next year, local artists submitted their art work,” he said. “I like to do something a little different every year. So through the art teachers, my vision was to get art work submitted by kids, judge it and put them in the calendar, and that’s what we did.”
While all submissions were included in the calendar, an independent jury decided which pictures would take up the 13 individual month pages.
“I managed, one way or another, to get all the artwork submitted into the calendar, including a montage in the back, which is very colorful,” said Salsbury.
The pictures in the calendar were submitted by art teachers Sue Batchelder, Jim Kociuba and Jane List.
About half of the calendars sold on Election Day.
“It’s been very successful this year,” he said. “If people don’t get their calendars in the next couple of weeks, then we’ll probably just run out.”
The calendars are currently available for purchase at the town clerk’s office, The Contoocook Needlework Gallery, The Covered Bridge Frame Shop and Gallery, The Cracker Barrel, The New Hampshire Antiquarian Society and Bellas. Calendars may also be purchased from local Rotarians.
The cost of production, said Salsbury, was primarily covered by 50 to 60 local businesses that advertise in the calendar.
“I like to give small businesses the opportunity to show they support community and Rotary events,” he said. “The small (ads) are only $25 and the ones that are on the calendar pages are $150, that’s’ pretty reasonable when you consider the cost of advertising in local newspapers and magazines.”
Proceeds from the calendars, which sell for $10 each, will benefit the Rotary Club’s senior scholarship program and other community- and school-related projects.
Last year, the Rotary donated roughly $4,000 from calendar sales to the community and another $17,500 from its annual golf tournament for scholarships to graduating seniors.