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Essex is a Star this Holiday Season

The sights, sounds and quintessential New England-ness of Essex and Centerbrook will be showcased in two upcoming holiday movies. Christmas at Pemberly Manor will air on Saturday, Oct. 27 on the Hallmark Channel and on Friday, Nov. 30, A Very Nutty Christmas will air on Lifetime.

Both movies, which were filmed this past spring and summer, used Essex as a backdrop for their plot. In fact, if you look really closely, you may even catch a glimpse of Essex Park & Recreation Director Mary Ellen Barnes in the background of Christmas at Pemberly Manor.

“It was a great experience,” said Barnes, who was invited to be an extra in the movie.

“The day we filmed the scene in downtown [Essex], it was 85 degrees and full sun,” added Barnes, who was adorned in a winter hat, scarf, vest, and fuzzy boots. “I don’t think I have ever been so hot in my entire life, but it was a really fun experience and the fact that I got to do this in my home town made it even better.”

Barnes recognized that her efforts are unlikely to see major screen time.

“We will be lucky if there is 10 minutes of the 12-hour scene we shot that makes it into the movie,” she said. “I am very curious to see the finished product.”

According to Barnes, the production crew spent the day prior to filming, prepping the downtown area of Essex, transforming a hot summer day into what appeared to be a charming, quaint, cold, picturesque New England center at Christmas time. The crew shot at Main Street Park, the grounds of the Post Office, some scenes of the store fronts on Main Street, and down at the Griswold Inn square.

“It was hard to envision how it was going to all turn out, so I am very excited to see what they did and how much of Essex actually got into the movie,” said Barnes

A large portion of the movie was filmed in a historic, rented mansion in Old Lyme, so there’s likely to be several familiar landscapes in the movie.

A Very Nutty Christmas, a romantic comedy starring Melissa Joan Hart, will feature scenes from Savour Café and Bakery in Centerbrook. The main character, Kate, is a workaholic baker who has given up on Christmas, especially this year when her boyfriend dumps her and she’s got to fill an order of 12,000 cookies before Christmas.

According to Kim Thomas, owner of Savour, being part of the movie turned her and her staff in to real life workaholics, as they were asked to bake 1,800 cookies in four days.

“They gave us a ‘look book’ for the cookies and told us what they wanted the cookies to look like and we got to work,” said Thomas, who turned the experience into an upbeat event, playing Christmas music in May and getting into the spirit of things.

Thomas will hold the staff Christmas party this year at her house, for the premier viewing of the movie.

“It will be a fun time for all of us,” said Thomas.