Festival of Trees 2015

Gualala Arts’ Twelfth Annual Festival of Trees will be held Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, November 27, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 28, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., kicking off the Holiday Season on the Mendonoma Coast. Admission is free.

The entire Arts Center will be transformed into mid-19th Century Gualala. Highlights include festively decorated booths displaying handcrafted wares and demonstrations in both the Coleman Auditorium and the Burnett Gallery.

The Gualala Arts Interest Groups will fill the Burnett Gallery with a wonderful display of crafts handmade by our own Pacific Piecemakers Quilt Guild, Fiber Arts Group, Woodcarvers and Woodworkers groups, Basket Makers and Beads n’ Beyond.

Due to the popularity of this Festival, we will have several vendors offering their hand crafted wares in the upstairs library and gallery. Last year’s new and improved payment system returns, with shoppers being able to pay the vendors directly for their purchases rather than having a central cash register. No more long lines to get those perfect gifts!

The Magical Gingerbread House will again offer activities and crafts for the children, and it has now moved into the Clay Studio downstairs at the Arts Center. For the delight of children of all ages there will be daily visits from Santa Claus, along with Mrs. Claus, his sleigh and reindeer and a snow flurry direct from the North Pole in the DePrima Terrace! Also returning for a second year is The Grinch, who will welcome visitors at the front door of the Arts Center.

Holiday cookies, breads, puddings, fruitcake and an assortment of confections will be available for sale at Mrs. Claus’ Bake Shoppe & Confectionery. Local bakers and candy makers donate goods from their favorite holiday recipes (many handed down through the generations) to this appetizing shop. New this year will be an amazing offering of whole pies and cakes for sale, so be sure to bring your sweet tooth and take home the perfect dessert to go along with those Thanksgiving leftovers!

Festival-goers will be greeted in the foyer by the Old Gualala Mill Cookhouse serving fresh baked goods in the morning, and hearty homemade vittles for lunch, as well as fresh coffee, hot chocolate, chilled apple juice, and hot-spiced apple cider. For the adults, there will be the yummy winter beverage called “Scrumpy” available as well as spiked egg nog.

Refreshed, you may continue shopping for those perfect gifts and take a closer look at the beautifully decorated Fantasy Trees decorated with exquisite ornaments, the sale of which benefits Gualala Arts.