**** NEW YEAR UPDATE FROM MARCY ROBIN – SHADOWGRAM
**** NOTE REGARDING DS FESTIVAL’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
SHADOWGRAM OFFICIAL DARK SHADOWS NEWS ONLINE UPDATE # 373
February 1. 2016
Hello, Dark Shadows Fan,
**** UPDATE MESSAGE FROM SHADOWGRAM’S MARCY ROBIN
It’s been several weeks since the last SG DS News Online Update and I’ve been silent during that time. I appreciate everyone’s patience and messages of concern and now explain why.
In the pre-dawn hours of a morning in late December, an accidental electrical fire (no way of knowing there was any danger) erupted in the garage of my home. It consumed the garage, which is attached to my house. The blaze destroyed virtually everything inside the garage (no cars were kept there).
Thankfully, the local fire station is very close to my home. I’d barely hung up on my 911 phone call when the firefighters and local sheriffs began arriving. Their wonderful efforts contained the blaze to the garage building itself. However, smoke permeated the entire house and all its contents, making it uninhabitable until the smoke damage and repairs can be fully cleaned, cleared, and completed.
I am most thankful that no one – including our 4 cats - was hurt. I also deeply appreciate the kindness and support from those superb first responders, then and since that terrible morning. However, we were (and have been) very shaken up and are continuing to cope with all aspects of the fire and its aftermath.
The insurance company was “on top of” things from the first call we made to report the fire – in fact, it was still burning when we called. Insurance personnel quickly arranged temporary housing for us (and also boarding the 4 cats at the veterinary hospital). Insurance also soon brought in the various appropriate companies to assess all the damage, clean out debris, determine construction requirements, procedures, needs, etc. Every single thing in the house had to be removed and is being restored and cleaned via the ozone process.
We and the cats now are settled in a long-term temporary location several miles from the house. We’ve also returned to our jobs. The insurance company and others involved in the work keep us fully informed, meeting and checking with us, etc., as things gradually progress.
This entire experience has been extremely upsetting, overwhelming, and disruptive in every possible way. Yet the support, concern, and encouragement from others have been so uplifting and true blessings. The house and garage will require thorough, extensive work inside and out. This is projected to take several months to complete. (The potential effects of predicted El Nino heavy rains hopefully won’t occur or create delays.)We are just so grateful for everyone and everything that have been – and are – there for us and the cats.
Thank you for your understanding.
**** NOTE: DS FESTIVAL – DS 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
With the terrific ongoing help of Kathy Resch, I WILL continue to post these ShadowGram Official Dark Shadows News Online Updates as I receive DS-related news, including confirmed developments for our Dark Shadows Festival DS 50th Anniversary Celebration on June 24-26 in Tarrytown, NY.
Thus, I soon will announce membership and Luncheon rates, procedure details, and the latest official information for this Celebration / Cast & Fan Reunion
These ShadowGram Official DS News Online Updates – always posted first through the ShadowGram Group at Yahoo,com – also will continue to announce and report DS and Fest news as the 50th Anniversary approaches.
If you haven’t done so yet, fans who plan to attend this very special commemorative event are encouraged to please send an unsealed business-size SAFSE (Self-Addressed Forever-Stamp Envelope) to:
Dark Shadows Festival
PO Box 92
Maplewood, NJ 07040
Your SAFSE later will be returned to you via postal-mail with the official Fest membership form and other information. You fill out the form and mail it, your check/money order payments, and 2 more SAFSEs to the Fest address above
I hope you can join us for this very special Commemoration weekend, June 24-26, 2016, in Tarrytown, NY (approx. 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan). Weekend activities and programming – with our DS guests and fans of all ages from across the US and beyond – will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel and the historic Lyndhurst Estate and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The estate and cemetery were filming locations for the 2 MGM theatrical movies “House of Dark Shadows” (1970) and “Night of Dark Shadows” (1971). They all are a few miles from each other.
These ShadowGram Official DS Online News Updates will report future Fest Celebration announcements and plans.
ShadowGram Online Update # 370 (11-19-15) premiere-announced our confirmed DS guests as of that date and I’ll report more guests as they confirm. Subsequent ShadowGram Updates have provided further definite Fest news. These previous Updates can be read by Group members who go to the ShadowGram Group at Yahoo.com.
Thank you.
Marcy Robin
ShadowGram@aol.comShadowGram1@yahoo.com
