Apple Blossom Cotillion to celebrate 60 years

2016 Apple Blossom Cotillion contestants at their first rehearsal.

A documentary video and a visit from the very first Apple Blossom Cotillion queen will mark the 60th annual Apple Blossom Cotillion this spring.

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Apple Blossom Cotillion to celebrate 60 years By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Report SPRINGFIELD — A documentary video and a visit from the very first Apple Blossom Cotillion queen will mark the 60th annual Apple Blossom Cotillion this spring. A total of 12 high school couples and 18 elementary school couples will perform in the fundraising event for Springfield Hospital. The 60th annual community event will be held May 7 at Riverside Middle School gymnasium. This year’s theme is “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and will feature music from the past 60 years, in line with the cotillion’s history. This year’s event will honor the first Apple Blossom queen, Joan Ryan Bishop, now of Venice, Fla. And in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event, a documentary is being produced to tell the story of the Springfield community tradition. Bishop, a graduate of Springfield High School’s class of 1957, has a home in Claremont, N.H., that she visits several times a year and will return as part of the 60th anniversary remembrance. Larry Kraft, development director for Springfield Medical Care Systems, the parent organization of Springfield Hospital, said Cindy Putorti of Albany, N.Y., a former two-time judge at the cotillion, is putting together a 60-minute documentary. Putorti has already been over to the Sunday afternoon rehearsals that started Jan. 3 to conduct interviews and do some recording, Kraft said. Kraft said Putorti, who has an extensive background in high school theater productions in the Albany area, said that she had “fallen in love” with the cotillion during her two stints as a judge. Kraft said she volunteered to produce the documentary. “It’s her way of staying connected to the event,” Kraft said. Kraft said that hopefully the cotillion documentary will be broadcast on local public access television in the spring, and DVDs of the documentary would be for sale during the cotillion weekend. The first Sunday afternoon rehearsal was held Jan. 3, under the eye of directors Pam Shaughnessy, Kyla White and Carrie Jewell. They are assisted by guest choreographers and the children’s coordinators, Tracy Austin and Candace Groner. Kraft will return as the cotillion’s master of ceremonies, for the 16th consecutive year. Kraft said the cotillion class is smaller than last year’s group of 17 couples. He said 11 of the couples include senior girls from Springfield High School, and one senior girl from Bellows Falls Union High School in Westminster. He said the cotillion class is getting smaller, a reflection of the smaller graduating class at the high school. He said senior girls from the Springfield Hospital service area are eligible to apply for the cotillion. Last year, there were several girls from outside Springfield, he said. He said the 18 little couples from elementary school ranks were also fewer than last year, and that there were more than 18 couples who applied, but the numbers were limited “to make the production work.” Members of the 2016 Cotillion, and their escorts are: Alexis Bellows, escorted by Conor Foulois; Ayres DeLorenzo with Ryan Cooney; Rebekah Ferreira with Elijah Pianka; Rayven Hersey with E. J. Bromley; Elizabeth MacKenzie with Hunter Grace; Samantha Metcalf with Jon Hildreth; Lillianna Moore with Zachary Tubbs; Nicole Murray with Christian Terry; Calista Polidor with Matthew Wright; Arianna Rowe with Mason Olney; Laurana Slobodnjak with Ian Morvan; and Adrienne Stevens with Zachary Cooper.