December 11, 2002 - 4:00pm
The eighth annual Festival of Trees is turning out to be the best ever.
Accounting is still in progress from the five-day event at Beban Park two weeks ago, but early figures indicate that the Festival may be returning around $50,000 to support Malaspina University-College. This is a big increase from the $43,000 profit last year.
Laura Addison, Chair of the Festival, attributes the success to unprecedented support from sponsors and volunteers.
“We had more people putting into the Festival, we kept our costs down, so we had more to show for it at the end,” she said.
“We also had a much larger group of volunteers to help this year, which really helped as well.”
The five-day event featured seven separate events, from a Seniors Tea to a formal Gala dinner and Auction, most of which sold out well in advance.
The Festival attracted close to 6,000 visitors, and featured 100 decorated Christmas trees, garlands, wreaths and specialty items, all of which were sold, auctioned or raffled. Other attractions included a children’s play area, gift boutiques and entertainment from school choirs and local performers.
This year the proceeds from the Festival will benefit the Dental Assisting and Fine Arts programs at Malaspina University-College, plus student awards and the central Library.
Tags: In the Community
