The Christmas Tree Festival will help raise funds for the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation (Photo: Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation on Facebook)

By Justin Goulet

Annual Christmas Tree Festival lights up this weekend

Nov 12, 2019 | 11:33 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s almost time to rock around the Christmas tree.

The annual Christmas Tree Festival kicks off this weekend. The event is presented by the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation (CRHF) and is celebrating its 27^th year.

On Saturday, November 16, decorators will get together at the ENMAX Centre to decorate over 20 Christmas trees. Then on Sunday, the public is welcome to tour around the arena from noon until 4:00 p.m. and take a look at the newly decorated trees.

The public viewings continue Monday and Tuesday (November 18 and 19) from noon until 8:00 p.m.

Jason Vandenhoek, the Executive Director of the CRHF says Monday’s extra special because from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., they’ll host the Family Evening with ice skating, face painting, treats, entertainment and a special visit from the man himself: Santa Claus.

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Wednesday, November 20 will be the culmination of the event – a gala and auction. The live auction will give guests a chance to buy one of the trees, with funds raised helping the CRHF.

“Our focus right now continues to be the mental health area at Chinook Regional [Hospital] so we are redeveloping and renovating that space just to make it really comfortable for patients and really bring it up to speed in terms of what we need to do now to provide appropriate mental health care,” Vandenhoek told Lethbridge News Now.

“We’ve been working on that for a few years and we will continue to do that so all the proceeds from the Tree Festival this year will benefit that project.”

Vandenhoek said it’s encouraging to see the community being so supportive of a cause like this, especially around the holidays.

“The truth of the matter is that everyone is going to need the hospital at some point and our goal as a foundation is to make sure that folks who are coming into the hospital have everything they need to have excellent care,” he said.

“By supporting an event like this, you really are supporting your community and we have amazing donors and this event is really just another example of how generous our community really is when folks come in and do all this to benefit the hospital.”

The public viewings on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are all free to attend. Wednesday evening’s gala is a ticketed event. Tickets can be purchased for $80 through the CRHF’s website.