The Festival of Trees returns to Charles City

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The Festival of Trees offers Charles City residents the chance to vote and support local non-profit groups.

“It’s all nonprofit groups from the area,” said Christopher Anthony, Otto’s Oasis Store manager. “They come in and decorate the tree, usually themed to their cause and this year we have 12 trees, and several new ones.”

The Festival of Trees ends Sunday, Dec. 30.

“We’ve been hosting it since 2008,” Anthony said.

This year a trivia quiz was added to the boxes and festivities.

“We have a paper here you can take, and there’s trivia question related to each tree,” Anthony said. “You answer what that question is by something that’s on that tree, that offers the answer.”

The people who take part in the quiz have a chance to win a prize this year, he said. “It’s a new feature,” Anthony said.

The organizations involved keep 100 percent of the money donated in the boxes, Anthony said. “It’s a Chamber event that we just host.”

In the greenhouse side of Otto’s Oasis are 12 trees, each decorated by a different nonprofit company. The trees were put up the day after Thanksgiving and will remain up until Dec. 30.

“The public can come in and make monetary donations to the trees they want to vote for,” Anthony said. “Each tree has a box of some sort to contribute to.”

Anyone can walk through during Otto’s Oasis’ business hours of 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays, according to Otto’s Oasis’ website.

Hosting the event has “worked great for the community, for us, for the Chamber and for all the organizations,” Anthony said. “It doesn’t end right at Christmas. You can go the week afterward as well.”

The Charles City Chamber of Commerce collects and counts the money put in the box to determine the winner at the end.

The American Legion Auxiliary, Central Preschool, Charles City Arts Council, Comprehensive Systems, Floyd County Child Abuse Prevention Council, Fossil and Prairie Center, Hope for Life Pregnancy Center, LLost Llamas 4-H, PAWS Humane Society, St. John Christian Preschool, TLC: The Learning Center and Trinity United Methodist Church Youth have trees  this year.