Victoria Festival of Trees

For over 100 years it has been a magnet, easily one of the Island’s most popular places to visit. Think Afternoon Tea. The Crystal Ballroom. The Bengal Lounge. The Conservatory. Over the years it has attracted everyone from Shirley Temple to Barbara Streisand, and this holiday season it wants to see you on the premises as well.

From now until January 3, 2010, The Fairmont Empress Resort Hotel is hosting the 2009 Victoria Festival of Trees. The event is a major fundraiser for the BC Children’s Hospital and features 75 amazingly decorated Christmas trees scattered across the famous old hotel whose front porch is the Inner Harbour. Over the course of the next few weeks, thousands of visitors and residents alike will wander around the Fairmont Empress (as well as Port Alberni’s Best Western Barclay Hotel) taking in the creative offerings of local businesses, organizations and individuals in the form of their own specially decorated tree.

From the Girl Guides to Thrifty Foods to Coast Capital Savings, the community comes together in a big way to ring in the season and at the same time stay focused on helping the little citizens who need help.

Jessica Bell, philanthropy coordinator for the BC Hospital Foundation, says the event is one of her favorites of all the fundraisers she is involved with at the Foundation.

“Oh it’s just amazing. It’s wonderful how the community comes together,” said Bell. “It’s so inclusive. It’s really neat how it brings everyone together, and The Fairmont is just so incredibly generous each year.”

Last year over 8,000 people voted for the People’s Choice Award Citizen Prize. This is the 18th year for the event in Victoria, while the folks in Port Alberni are joining in their first. There are 18 trees up at the Best Western Barclay in Port Alberni.

Sponsors make a healthy donation to the Foundation for the opportunity to show off their tree decorating skills. While getting themselves into the Christmas mood as they wander around a literal forest of good tidings, visitors can help the BC Children’s Hospital by voting for their favorite tree for just $2.

The B.C. Hospital Foundation supports the people, places and things required to ensure British Columbia’s kids have access to outstanding pediatric care. Since 1982, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation has worked with children, families, caregivers and hundreds of thousands of British Columbians to give Children’s Hospital, and the Child & Family Research Institute the resources they need to excel.

The Festival of Trees events has raised “an astronomical amount of money” over the years towards a great cause, says Jessica Bell, philanthropy coordinator for the BC Hospital Foundation, “That money goes towards the purchase of equipment, or funding for the work of our researchers, to educational programs and things like that,” says Bell.