Groups and individuals can bring their decorated holiday trees to the Nolan Center this weekend for the Hospice of Wrangell annual Christmas Tree Lane fundraiser.
The only rules are no real trees — only artificial ones to avoid any fire risk at the building — and no wreaths. Creative decorations and unusual themes are encouraged, said Alice Rooney, of Hospice.
“One year we had a tree that was upside down,” she said of the donations over the past 20 years of the fundraiser. People have decorated trees with themes ranging from Harry Potter to the Seattle Seahawks to foreign countries, Rooney said.
The trees will be on display for more than two weeks, providing people the opportunity to bid on their favorites and, if they win with the highest bid, take the tree home or to their office or work site for the holidays.
Trees can be delivered to the Nolan Center during their posted hours of 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27. The trees will go on public display Thursday, Nov. 30, Rooney said.
Bidding will close at 1 p.m. Dec. 16 at the holiday market at the Nolan Center. The proceeds go to hospice, with half offered to the tree decorators if they want to share in the fundraising, Rooney explained.
The effort usually receives 15 to 20 trees a year. Some handcrafted holiday items may also be available at the event.
The other annual event sponsored by Hospice is its Dove Tree Ceremony, set for 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26, at the Nolan Center. The remembrance started 20 years ago as the community was grieving over particularly sad local deaths, Rooney explained.
The tree, with its paper doves in memory of people who have died, “has a place of honor” among the displays at Christmas Tree Lane. People can add a dove to the tree at the Nov. 26 ceremony or anytime during December. The tree will be up through the holidays.
Volunteers will prepare a dove for each community member who died in the past year, and blank doves will be available for anyone to add remembrances.
Rooney noted that the tree usually fills up during the month as people come by to add friends and family.
SEARHC Dr. Sanoe Harrison will share comforting words at the ceremony and Katie Fitzjarrald will perform an original song, Rooney said.
For more information about either Hospice event, call 907-305-0007.
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