Ridgefield League of Women Voters to celebrate suffragist Alice Paul on Tuesday

Marilyn Carroll, president of League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, left, and Rev. Maria Pia Seirup, right, hold up the replica of the League's 11'x 3' 1911 Votes for Women Banner which Rev. Seirup created. It will be — Marilyn Carroll, president of League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, left, and Rev. Maria Pia Seirup, right, hold up the replica of the League’s 11'x 3' 1911 Votes for Women Banner which Rev. Seirup created. It will be “unveiled” at the League's Alice Paul Day Celebration with guest speaker First Selectman Rudy Marconi on Tuesday, January 14 at the Keeler Tavern’s Garden Room at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
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The League of Women Voters of Ridgefield will kick off the 100th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the league and the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote at the league’s Alice Paul Day festivities on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at 10:30 a.m. at the Keeler Tavern Museum’s Garden Room, 152 Main Street.

The celebration will include a small Alice Paul exhibit with a brief presentation about the “Ridgefield’s Radical” suffragist’s many accomplishments, as well as information about the founding of the League of Women Voters.

Other highlights of the program will be the “unveiling” of the replica of the league’s 11’ x 3’ 1911 Votes for Women Banner by its creator, the Rev. Maria Pia Seirup who, when asked why she had offered to take on the daunting task of recreating the banner said: “I wanted to use my gifts to celebrate the joy of community and acknowledge the historical significance of the banner. It took courage for woman to carry the banner in 1911 and I know that many of the social justice and political issues that they were fighting for during that time are still being fought for today and I wanted to do my part to remind people of their importance.”

The guest speaker at the event will be First Selectman Rudy Marconi, who will give a State of the Town presentation.

“Suffragist Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, founder of the League were two of the most important and influential women in the suffrage movement, and we’re looking forward to sharing information about them as well as having First Selectman Marconi provide us with the latest information about Alice’s adopted town,” said League President Marilyn Carroll. “We invite community members to join us for the festivities, it’s free and light refreshments will be served!”

RSVPs can be sent to amandacordano@gmail.com.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization of women and men that encourages active participation in government and voting.