Festival of Trees

Last night my daughter asked me to take her to the annual Festival of Trees in Exeter. I really didn't want to go but knew it would be a nice opportunity for some evening photography. Luckily it wasn't to cold outside, though I did have to step into a store to warm my camera up for a moment. After that I kept it inside the front of my jacket.

The town seemed to have a pretty good turnout. As usual most people were ...

a) waiting to visit Santa
b) waiting for a horse drawn hayride
or
c) waiting in line to get a look at the 50 decorated trees in the Town Hall that were up for auction

The lines were long. Real long. I'm not a big fan of lines. Just as I decided to leave I bumped into my next door neighbor and her sister. We chatted for a few minutes, then along comes my daughter and her boyfriend. He's an Exeter native and told us how to sneak into the Festival of Trees through a side door. He says his family does it every year. Actually it's the entrance to the art show they were having upstairs but it also goes right into where the tree's are.

Yeah, we're bad. We did it. I only stayed about 5 minutes though while my neighbor and her sister lingered a bit longer.

So many gorgeous trees decorated by local businesses and organizations were up for bid! Each tree had a # and a corresponding sheet where you could write down a bid, just so long as it was higher than the previous bid. Most starting bids were around $25-$40 depending on how elaborate the tree was decorated. The highest bid I saw on any of the tree's was $250! All the money goes to help local children in need so it is a very good cause.

The holiday season can be such a beautiful thing