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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Festival of Trees continues Saturday
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BELLE PLAINE — The Wallace and Beverly Winkie Foundation opened its Festival of Trees and bake sale Friday ahead of a winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow in Benton County the following day.
The storm caused the Foundation to postpone its biggest day to Saturday, Dec. 6. The Belle Plaine’s Holiday Homecoming Lighted Parade was also postponed to this weekend.
Located at Hope Lodge 175, 805 11th St. in Belle Plaine, the Festival of Trees showcases the artistic talents of area businesses, organizations and families which decorate Christmas trees for prizes and sometimes for sale.
All of the proceeds from the event pay for non-traditional scholarships.
Visitors to the festival vote for their favorite trees using coins and bills. The three trees with the most votes receive gift baskets. The top prize is valued at over $260, the second at over $170 and the third at over $100.
Some trees and gift baskets are for sale through a silent auction.
This is the fourth year for the event, Dusti Winkie said Friday. “We had a good year [last year],” she said. “We had great trees.”
This year more people are participating, said Winkie. The Festival will display 29 or 30 trees Saturday with additional baked goods. The trees will be available for viewing and bidding from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
On display are trees decorated by Virginia Gay Hospital, Benton County 4-H and Benton County Extension, said Winkie. Most were created by residents of Benton County.
Dusti and her sister Wendi decorated trees for the event, and they display red and gold trees that belonged to their mother — but those trees aren’t for sale.
A few of the trees are real, said Dusti. They were decorated by the Belle Plaine Nursery.
Visitors may enjoy free coffee, hot apple cider or German Kinderpunsch while they look over the trees. Admission is free.
The Festival of Trees was meant to coincide with Small Business Saturday, Nov. 29, but the winter storm that passed through the area prompted organizers to move Saturday’s festivities to Dec. 6.
