By NICK YAMASHITA
The Progress
The Moapa Valley Festival of Trees brought in the cheer of the holidays as it does each year. The well-loved local festival was held Nov. 19-21 at the Old Logandale School.
Once again, this annual fundraiser for the Old Logandale School Historical and Cultural Society (OLSHACS) brought the smells and tastes of Christmas and the sights and lights of holiday joy.
Tree donors and other vendors set up on Wednesday, leavinga hall full of decorated trees to be auctioned off at the festival.
On Thursday, the event began and the public began to arrive to enjoy the beautiful sights of the festival. The attendees remained masked and at a safe social distance.
“We are extremely pleased!” said OLSHACS Director Robin Maughan. “We are so glad we decided to do the event this year considering the situations and everything. We have had nothing but compliments from the community, and everyone was so happy to be a part of the event.”
During the days of the event there was entertainment provided by a number of local groups. The larger groups performed outside in the pavilion on the old school’s grounds. This gave plenty of room for the large audiences to spread out.
They included Shayleen Dalley’s Cheer Classes, Fusion Dance, Studio B, Muddy River Cloggers, Mack Lyon Middle School Marinettes, and the Moapa Valley Tumblers. Smaller acts performed on the stage inside. These included performances by Drew and Jane Solomon, Phina Romero and James Harvey on violins, and Marquessa Aikele’s piano students. Even Santa himself made a brief appearance.
“Parents and kids were so excited. It was so joyful for all the parents and families, and everyone left happy,” stated Maughan. “To be able to see or give performances this year finally.”
Christmas vendors, clothing apparel vendors, food vendors, and more were available to give the public a first look at Christmas decorations and gifts and buy some for their own. The highlights of the events were the trees. These included everything from a Blue line, Support the Police tree to a Save our Mesa tree. There was also a baseball tree, a Construction tree made of a ladder and tools, and many more.
Each tree showed ingenuity and creativity with true love and joy put into each one. When all was said and done, all the trees were sold.
“It was our best year yet,” Maughan said. “We sold all 30 trees with excellent bids.”
It was reported on early Monday that there had not been a full tally yet for the total amount made from the tree sales, but the highest tree had sold for over $300. Maughan reported there might be a chance of breaking the record for the amount raised, reemphasizing the fact for being the best year yet for them.
“We are very pleased for the community, and the results both as this event helped bring something that we all needed during this year, which is a time to enjoy each other,” Maughan said.
“Even with the COVID restrictions in place, we still could bring joy to people’s faces and get everyone in the swing of the season. It was all very heartwarming to see the support and everyone come together as a community.”
