There was no need to feel disappointed even though the profits will be less than half of what they were last year; the Festival of Trees will definitely be back for a fourth consecutive year in 2016.
That’s the word from Becky Conly, executive director of the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation, who estimated that this year’s Festival of Trees, featuring expertly decorated Christmas trees available for auction along with a number of other highly regarded items, will net about $40,000 for the hospital foundation this year.
“That’s down from last year’s $95,000, but things are so different now with the economy, so we are just so grateful for the level of support we got this year. It’s an unbelievable event that we want people to have the opportunity to experience every year,” she said.
The two-day spectacular at Affinity Place saw about 350 people enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner on Saturday night that featured the live and silent auctions along with a couple of raffles plus the musical stylings of the Doc Walker trio.
On Sunday morning, the festival took on a family-like atmosphere with bouncy castles for the kids who could also visit Santa, pick up items at his sleigh or enjoy breakfast and craft creations with members of the Estevan Bruins from 9:30 to 11:30
“This is a very important event for the foundation and we had wonderful support from the volunteers. It takes over 70 of them to get this done. We had some who were able to give us a couple of hours of their time, others gave us over 40 hours when you consider all the tree decorating that took place,” she added.
Their were 14 trees up for bid, two of them in the live auction and the rest on a silent auction basis. The live auction of trees, trips and special items saw total bids in excess of $33,000 being hammered down by guest auctioneer Jeff Tosczak.
An ad hoc, sudden “sale of placement in the food lineup,” instigated by emcee Trevor Gowen, netted another $2,000 that was unexpected, but certainly appreciated,” said Conly.
In the spirit of community co-operation, Conly said two Christmas trees were sold with the proceeds being directed to the Western Canada Cup and the Saskatchewan Summer Games organizing committees that will be playing host to these two major events within the next few months.
“It was a good opportunity to share, everyone can do with a little help once in awhile,” said Conly.
“In light of the economy and recent events, this was a big success and the support was genuinely appreciated,” Conly said in conclusion.
