Community Corner

Fairfield Christmas Tree Festival Celebrates '30 Years of Giving' [Update with Photos]

Here's a sneak peak photo gallery of this year's festival. The big year's beneficiary is St. Vincent's Special Needs Services in Trumbull.

 

[Editor's Note: This was originally published on Nov. 30.]

It’s not Christmas in Fairfield until the Christmas Tree Festival comes around.

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According to Carol Wheeler, who presides over the event’s board of directors, the four-day festival has become a tradition that marks the start of the holiday season in this town.

“It’s been a wonderful event; it’s part of Fairfield’s tradition,” she said.

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And it has been for 30 years.

The History Behind the Festival

Since 1981, the nonprofit Fairfield Christmas Tree Festival, Inc., has raised money through the festival for a different deserving beneficiary each year, Wheeler said. It began as a fundraiser for Bridgeport’s Barnum Festival, which Wheeler’s husband, Dwight, and fellow Fairfield resident Pat Moore spearheaded.

“She and my husband convinced other women to join,” Wheeler said. And so the Christmas Tree Festival -- and the extensive support network behind it -- began.

Wheeler’s family has been involved in the festival from the get-go, she said. Dwight Wheeler worked behind the scenes as treasurer of the festival and its corresponding nonprofit group, Wheeler said. Wheeler’s mother helped out that first year -- it was her first Christmas without her husband, Wheeler’s father -- and now her daughters-in-law are involved.

The takes place at the Burr Homestead, starting with a preview party on Dec. 1 and will run until Sunday, Dec. 4. The weekend usually sees about 2-3,000 attendees, Wheeler said.

Thursday’s party is the first real holiday party of the season for Fairfield residents and other attendees, Wheeler said. The festival always begins on the Thursday following Thanksgiving.

The is undergoing a makeover as interior and floral designers decorate each of the building’s rooms to make it a household of holiday wonder. The designers, as well as hundreds of volunteers, donate their time each year to make the festival happen.

And thus the festival can help make out-of-reach goals possible for its beneficiaries.

This Year’s Beneficiary: St. Vincent’s Special Needs Services

This year’s deserving party is in Trumbull. The proceeds from the festival will go toward purchasing and installing a therapeutic pool for the institution’s patients.

The total cost of construction for the pool is between $500,000 and $600,000, according to Deborah Cox, director of development and community relations at St. Vincent’s.

“While we don’t expect the Festival to cover the entire cost of the pool, we do expect to raise a very significant portion that will put us well on our way to achieving our goal,” Cox said.

Wheeler echoed Cox’s hope. The festival raised more than $230,000 for last year’s recipient, the Burroughs Community Center in Bridgeport.

“Our goal is to help them with funding the pool, so we hope we do even better this year,” Wheeler said.

Cox said the pool will go far to help enhance therapy for patients through the services’ aquatic programs.  Many of their clients have “complex disabilities” that can affect their verbal skills and ability to walk, such as cerebral palsy, acute brain injuries, chronic seizures, and neuromuscular disorders, Cox said.

“A specialized therapeutic pool would greatly enhance therapies through aquatic programs,” she further explained. “Aquatic therapy is a well-established modality in physical therapy that allows for physical stressors to be distributed evenly over the body to improve balance, range of motion, cognitive function, aerobic capacity, strength, and flexibility.”

Being in the pool helps facilitate movement, Cox added, and patients can experience psychological benefits in addition to the physical gains.

Those benefits include “improved sleep quality, better cognitive functioning, and enhanced sensory experience,” Cox said.

Members of the Christmas Tree Festival’s Project Review Committee decide each year on the beneficiary. They review applications and visit with the applicants before choosing the recipient, Wheeler said.

“They do a lot of due diligence,” she added.

Cox said members of the committee toured St. Vincent’s Feroleto Children’s Development Center as part of the process to learn more about the center’s work and the therapeutic pool.

“We demonstrated how St. Vincent’s Special Needs strives to provide the best possible educational, medical, and therapeutic services and recreation to children and adults who have complex disabilities and special medical conditions,” she said.

St. Vincent’s was informed just before last year’s festival that they would become the 2011 recipients.

“We are extremely grateful to the Fairfield Christmas Tree Festival Board for selecting us, and their dedicated volunteers who spend an extraordinary amount of time putting the Festival together,” Cox said. This is a one-time opportunity that “will bring us from ground zero to over the halfway line toward our goal.”

What to Expect at This Year’s Festival

For all the details behind the big weekend, including ticket pricing for the special events, see the festival’s website. Here’s a snapshot of what’s to come:

  • Gala Preview Party: Burr Homestead, Thursday, Dec. 1 -- The house preview will take place from 6 to 6:30 p.m.; the preview party from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. This event requires an RSVP and “Yuletide Finery” dress.
  • The Festival (open to the public): Burr Homestead, Friday Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission at the door is $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors.
  • Santa Comes to Visit: Burr Homestead, Friday, Dec. 2, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • “The Giving Tree” Children’s Event: Burr Homestead, Friday, Dec. 2, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. RSVP required.  
  • “It’s a Good Year” Wine Tasting: Burr Homestead, Saturday, Dec. 3, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. RSVP required.
  • “A Very Special Tea” Event: Burr Homestead, Sunday, Dec. 4, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. RSVP required.
  • Quilt Raffle Drawing: Burr Homestead, Sunday, Dec. 4, 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 and the winner need not be present at the drawing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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