The 18th annual Festival of Trees and Wreaths hosted by Community Connections begins Friday at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Grange Hall and continues through Sunday.
The festival, which will also be hosted online, helps residents get into the holiday spirit by presenting a dazzling display of ornamented Christmas trees, wreaths and presents donated by local business sponsors.
The Festival of Trees and Wreaths is Community Connections’ signature fundraising event, said President and CEO Tara Kiene.
Community Connections, a nonprofit, provides intellectual and developmental disability early intervention and family support services in Southwest Colorado, including Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties.
The Durango festival is open from noon to 5 p.m. Participants can vote on their favorite decorations and bid on trees, wreaths and presents through the virtual auction beginning at noon Friday.
The festival in Cortez started Nov. 22 and will run through Sunday. The virtual auction starts at noon Friday for Cortez items.
Guests can attend the Durango and Cortez festivals in person or sign up to attend virtually through Community Connections’ website.
More than 60 auction items are already available for viewing online at Trees21.GiveSmart.com. People can register to participate in the virtual auction at the same web page.
The auction is being held virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced Community Connections to make the entire festival virtual last year other than the process of having business sponsors decorate their trees.
Kiene said masks will be required inside the Grange Hall. Doors will be kept open to allow air to circulate and there will be plenty of ventilation.
Laura Alsum, an event administrator from Community Connections, said she’s pleased the festival will be in-person, in addition to the auction this year.
Last year’s virtual-only festival had 282 participants. Kiene said with the mixed format this year and COVID’s continued presence, it is hard to predict how many people will participate.
Alsum said her favorite part of the festival is watching businesses set up their decorations and having the chance to speak with employees and families who take part in the setup.
“COVID has really hindered that aspect of it the last couple of years,” she said. “So it’s not like it used to be with that aspect. I hope we can get there. But it’s so much fun watching the creativity and the teamwork that goes along with that.”
The presents, wreaths and tree decorations are donated by local business sponsors. Some businesses don’t always have the time to participate in the decoration process; in those cases, they often simply sponsor the event or donate a gift item.
Businesses even look after each other. Sometimes one business will donate an item in another’s stead.
“Overland gave a sheep skin,” Alsum said. “Honeyville gave a couple of baskets to include on somebody’s tree who wasn’t able to provide as much.”
Alsum commended the community spirit demonstrated by local businesses over the years. After the 416 Fire in 2018 that scorched about 54,000 acres north of Durango, the festival featured three trees that were firefighter-themed.
“I’m going to do a shout out for Courtney Harshberger with Farmers Insurance,” Alsum said.
Harshberger focuses her decorations on a different relevant theme every year. Last year’s theme was restaurants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She went all around to all the restaurants and bought gift certificates,” Alsum said. “The gifts on her tree were all the gift certificates.”
Cortez-based businesses, who are participating in the second annual Festival of Trees and Wreaths, have also shown great community support, Alsum said.
“Some of the businesses (in Cortez) donated gift certificates to put on other businesses’ wreaths to help support them because they weren’t able to do their own wreaths,” she said.
Alsum reminisced about pre-COVID-19 festivals where families, children and couples would visit the Grange Hall to take in the decorative sites before going on their way. She said she’s glad people are able to attend in person again this year.
The Cortez festival doubled its number of auction items from last year’s festival. Alsum said the Cortez Retail Enhancement Association and local businesses have been enthusiastic about the festival.
Community Connections has seen successful growth in recent years, Kiene said.
In 2015, the nonprofit’s gross revenues at the 2015 festival totaled about $13,000. By contrast, last year’s event grossed around $77,000.
“So it has grown exponentially over the past few years, which has been wonderful,” she said. “We just have a really generous community.”
Community Connections’ fundraising goal for this year’s silent auction is $15,000. It had raised $400 so far through individual donations as of Thursday.
The money raised through the virtual auction will ensure the nonprofit can continue to provide disabilities and intellectual development services to children and families of Southwest Colorado.
“We are experiencing a huge deficit thanks to the pandemic and staffing shortages and all of that fun stuff that’s going on in the world right now,” Kiene said. “It (the fundraiser) is really filling the holes in our budget.”
In Community Connections’ last fiscal year, which ended June 2021, the nonprofit served 763 people, including children, families, adults and seniors across the five-county area, Kiene said.
The 2021 Festival of Trees and Wreaths presenting sponsor is Alpine Bank. For a full list of sponsors, visit Community Connections’ sponsors page at https://bit.ly/3rKBbNh
cburney@durangoherald.com
