Durango has some tried-and-true traditions during the holidays, including Singing with Santa, Noel Night and the Durango Choral Society’s Traditional Family Christmas Concert, but a big family-favorite outing is the Festival of Trees.
In its 12th running this year, 19 trees will be on display this weekend and next at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. For the festival, businesses and individuals decorate trees and surround them with gifts to delight viewers. A few attendees will win one of the extravagant creations because, while there’s no admission fee, people can buy tickets and put them in the box of the tree of their choice to be drawn.
“I remember one year, a woman who had won one of the trees came in with her two daughters to pick it up,” said Julie Dreyfuss, executive director of Community Connections Inc., which runs the festival and is its beneficiary. “They had never had a Christmas tree before; they only had a Christmas chair. That’s when I really realized the Festival of Trees doesn’t just benefit our clients; we benefit the whole community.”
The whole festival has a sense of giving, said Laura Alsum, office manager and Dreyfuss’ assistant.
“Just seeing how businesses and businesses’ employees get into it, so wanting to do it, is amazing,” she said. “The group from Atmos (Energy) always has the most fun. They’ve had themes like the “Minions,” “Where’s Waldo?” and the Grinch. They had a life-size Grinch peeking through the tree with his butt sticking out of the other side.”
Festival of Trees requires a different kind of contribution from businesses, Alsum said.
“They often just write a check,” she said, “but they don’t see what it achieves. This is a way for them to see and relate to what we do.”
The tree crew at Pediatric Partners of the Southwest starts planning its tree, which features handmade ornaments, five to six weeks before they install it. This year, they chose to use the Japanese art of kusudama, similar to origami but using multiple identical shapes glued together.
“I spent seven hours flying to Chicago cutting out pieces,” said Kristin Polens, clinical director of early interventions with the practice. “It took Wendy (Hoffman, a registered nurse) and I about two hours to make each ball.”
The value of the trees plus presents ranges from $500 to $1,000, and often businesses that do not decorate trees donate gifts to go with them. In previous years, about 10,000 people, including passengers on the Polar Express, have passed through the museum to admire the creativity of the tree themes and the bounty of gifts surrounding them.
Dreyfuss expects more this year because the train is running more Polar Express runs this year.
Community Connections
As much as the festival provides holiday spirit to the community, it also raises money for an important cause.
Community Connections, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, works with 250 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Intellectual disabilities include the autism spectrum and Down’s syndrome.
The services CCI provides include support for therapy, housing and employment. The only such organization that serves Southwest Colorado with 24-hour, seven-day-a week services through its Holly House Community Center, the nonprofit has a wait-list for its 24/7 residential services, Alsum said.
The event is a significant fundraiser for the organization, bringing in around $31,000 in 2014.
“A lot of people from around the country come,” Dreyfuss said, “and often they’ll buy tickets just to support the cause. Almost every year, one or two people like that will win and donate the trees back for us to give to a family in need. But the trees are so great, one time, a family in Denver won, and they drove all the way back down to pick it up.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
First National Bank tree (PDF)
Pediatric Partners' Tree (PDF)
Lamont Slusher Fischbach Tree (PDF)
If you go
The Festival of Trees will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Dec. 11 to Dec. 13 at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, 479 Main Ave. Admission is free, and riders on the Polar Express trains will also be able to visit the display.
The first 100 visitors each day will win the free treat of the day, including goodies from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, the Chip Peddler, Norton’s Catering/Highway 3 Roadhouse, Zuberfizz, Bread and Serious Delights.
Attendees can buy three tickets for $10 for a chance to win the tree(s) of their choice.
For more information about the Festival of Trees and Community Connections, visit www.communityconnectionsco.org/festival-of-trees.html.
