2013 Rochester Woodcarvers Tree, Rochester Woodcarvers

The 2013 Hiawatha Homes “Festival of Trees” was held November 27 – December 1, 2013 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, MN.

Hiawatha Homes Foundation sponsors this event to benefit Hiawatha Homes, Inc. whose mission is to provide residential, in-home, and community-based choices for people with disabilities. The success of each year’s Festival of Trees makes a significant difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

The Rochester Woodcarvers Club prepared “The Old Country Church” as a raffle item for the 2013 Festival of Trees event.

The raffle includes the base, the church and contents, the tree and ornaments, and the tree top decoration.

There are 154 ornaments decorating the tree and a “Christmas Star” tree topper helping to make this a special and unique tree.

The raffle ticket drawing for the lucky winner was held on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at 2:00pm at the Mayo Civic – Exhibit Hall – and lucky Rochester resident Mindy won!

After a full year of work preparing the Rochester Woodcarvers project, a dedicated and active team sold “pre-event” raffle tickets and then a group of “Tree Advocates” assisted the Festival of Trees volunteers to sell a total of 1,766 raffle tickets to very kind and generous people. Those tickets sold generated

$8,830.00

for Hiawatha Homes.

Teresa Thompson provided some additional information this year – after expenses (raffle ticket printing, Olmsted County Gambling License and Minnesota State Gambling license) our raffle tree netted $8,198.00 for Hiawatha Homes.

Teresa wanted to offer a Hiawatha “Group Hug” from all those at Hiawatha Homes to all those who helped make this year’s project happen.

A huge thanks to all the Rochester Woodcarvers who participated in preparing this year’s project, sold tickets, and represented the club at the Festival of Trees. The Zumbro Valley Woodturners contributed many of the ornaments used this year and the Rochester Woodcarvers thank them for their tremendous support!

Here is a collection of photos of “The Old Country Church” and tree on display during the 2013 Festival of Trees:

2013 Festival of Trees – setting up the tree at the event – November 25, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – the church and tree on display – November 26, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – raffle drawing and delivery – December 1, 2013 – click here

KTTC-TV helps with the promotion of the Festival of Trees and has prepared the following video:

2013 Festival of Trees – KTTC NewsCenter At Noon Community Segments – November 20, 2013 – click here

To see construction photos showing “The Old Country Church” project progress, check out the following links:

2013 Festival of Trees – initial plans for the “Old Country Church” – February 4, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – making the shingles for the church – February 4, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – church walls are going up – February 8, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – windows are cut and steeple is made – February 15, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – siding is cut and window trim is in – March 14, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – balcony bannister and parquet flooring – March 15, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – floor is installed, roof and shingles going on – April 5, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – finishing first side of roof and furniture – April 12, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – testing out organ and furniture placement – April 15, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – shaping the snowbanks and test fitting tree – May 3, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – adding hymnals, song board, music stand, … – June 10, 2013 – click here
2013 Festival of Trees – adding people to the church – November 11, 2013 – click here

Eric Berg (club member Gary Berg’s son) created this great image of “The Old Country Church”. We will use this image as a poster at the Festival of Trees to help sell raffle tickets.