December 2, 2009

Tree Time
Festival of the Trees benefit returns Friday and Saturday

By Elroy King
The Chronicle

     The Festival of the Trees will be back for the 14th year on Friday, Dec. 4. The event, set for The Dalles Civic Auditorium ballroom again this year, has reached its capacity of 35 trees.
     The event auctions off lavishly decorated trees created by local businesses and individuals as a benefit. The beneficiary of this year’s auction is the “Next Century Campaign,” which raises funds to improve digital imaging at Mid-Columbia Medical Center and Celilo Cancer Center.
     Columbia River Bank is the main corporate sponsor again this year as it has been from the start. Fred Meyer has taken on the sponsorship of Community Day, which is held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
     Family Day gives people who don’t attend the auction a chance to see the trees.
     Mid-Columbia Health Foundation hosts the annual event
     The trees will be decorated on Wednesday.
     The doors open to the general public on the night of the auction at 7 and the auction starts at 7:30. The auction is open to people ages 21 and older only.
Mayor Nikki Lesich and Randy Haines are the masters of ceremony for the event.
     The lead auctioneer this year will be Ron Chamness, who has helped in the past, but this is his first time as head auctioneer.
     The auction usually lasts about three hours and has become one of the main events of the holiday season in The Dalles. To get tickets for the auction call 296-7276.
     Themes for trees this year are “Salute to Veterans,” “Musical Magic,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “Christmas by the Sea,” “4-H Forever,” “A Visit to the Zoo” and “Christmas at the Movies.”
     In past years, some of the trees have been dedicated to individuals, some of them people who have died of cancer. Some people have made trees for the event every year since it began, Ann Copper of the Health Foundation said.
     Community Day on Saturday, Dec. 5, is free and open to the public. It gives people a chance to see the creative trees before they go to their new homes.
Santa Claus will be there for pictures, which cost $5. Santa proceeds going to SMART (Start Making a Reader Today). The Lions Club serves breakfast at the Saturday event at a cost of $6 per plate.
     The Gorge Jazz Band will perform from 10 to 11 a.m. and the Studio Elon Dancers will perform from 11 to noon.
     During the Community Day, Fred Meyer will hold a toy drive. Visitors are asked to bring an unwrapped toy and the toys collected will be given to the Salvation Army for their toy distribution in December.
     Copper said this event, like the auction itself, has been gaining in popularity. It drew between 200 and 300 people last year.
     The 2008 edition of the auction raised more than $41,000. In 2007 the total was around $45,000.
     Last year one tree sold for $3,100 and four others brought in more than $2,000. In 2007, a tree sold for $5,100, an all-time record.