2023 DATE: November 11-19, 2023
This post documents my experience on November 21, 2010.
In order to really compare these tree festivals, I figured a third one was appropriate.
Not only did the Holiday Tree Festival take place in a bigger city, but it promised more than 100 trees (there were around 150), not including the wreaths and other items available for purchase.
So off I went!
Presented by the Volunteers of Akron Children’s Hospital, with proceeds going to the Akron Children’s Hospital…
…the festival took place at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron.
Most activities took place in the upper level, where festival goers could find…
…a small shopping area of mostly bows and ornaments…
…an activity area for kids…
…and Santa Claus.
The trees were divided into two areas…
…along a small walkway and inside an enormous darkened room…
…which was a beautiful display with all those trees lit up.
People walked in single file, snaking around rows and taking pictures of trees (like yours truly). So many of the trees were well-thought out and imaginative that I seemed to never stop taking pictures of them.Fortunately for you, I decided to only include the more fascinating ones that also came out well in the photo (you can click on each of them to open a bigger version in a new window).
Themes included…
…toys (muppets, rubber duckies, sock monkeys)…
…college athletics (Akron, Ohio State)…
…movies (Gone with the Wind, Avatar)…
…noble professions (firefighters)…
…and puns (“Piece on Earth”).
There were even some non-traditional trees.
Like the other two festivals…
…wreaths were for sale…
…along with smaller donated pieces, including this doll house.
But some of Akron’s Christmas displays for sale…
…were far more interesting than others I’ve seen.
I sort of wish there were more of them.
Once you saw all of the trees and displays, you could take advantage of rest of the festival in the main lobby downstairs…
…where concessions and holiday entertainment awaited.
And although I couldn’t find any place selling real holiday treats, like cookies, cake or nut rolls…
…we did get a free bag of chips the way out.