2015 Rochester Woodcarvers Tree

The Rochester Woodcarvers have completed the 2015 Festival of Trees project! This year, we have the “Teddy Bear Picnic”.

You can see this tree in person (with over 100 other decorated trees) at the 2015 Hiawatha Homes Festival of Trees in Rochester, MN! The details about the Festival of Trees can be found at click here.

The concept is a group of bears are all having a great time on a picnic in the woods. Our bears will have wonderful abilities such as packing a picnic lunch, using a picnic blanket, playing on a teeter-totter, spinning a merry-go-round, and whatever else we all can think of…

A huge THANKS to everyone who helped with ideas, carving, construction and assembly/setup! This is truly a CLUB effort!

In addition to all the Rochester Woodcarvers, the Zumbro Valley Woodturners helped us with most of the “round” ornaments. They use their lathes to turn wood into ornaments including the “tree topper”, several other “hives” that decorate the tree and many round ornaments! Thanks to the ZVW! We have a great tree with your help and support!

The entire project (base, tree, ornaments and tree topper) is available as a raffle item and a lucky winner will be drawn on Sunday, November 29, 2015.

To see construction photos showing “The Teddy Bear Picnic” project progress, check out the following links:

  • 20150512 RWC Festival of Trees – first photos of the picnic base and trees – May 12, 2015 – click here
  • 20150617 RWC Festival of Trees – updates of trees and electric wiring – June 17, 2015 – click here
  • 20150629 RWC Festival of Trees – adding texture to trees and color to the base – June 29, 2015 – click here
  • 20150713 RWC Festival of Trees – trees have been painted and leaves/grass added – July 13, 2015 – click here
  • 20150902 RWC Festival of Trees – some bears have arrived for the picnic – September 2, 2015 – click here
  • 20150919 RWC September Club meeting – Hiawatha Homes stopped by – September 19, 2015 – click here
  • 20151020 RWC Festival of Trees – more bears have arrived for the picnic – October 20, 2015 – click here
  • 20151123 RWC Festival of Trees – the Teddy Bear Picnic project is done! – November 23, 2015 – click here

The 2015 Festival of Trees was another great experience and we had many, many visitors stop by to talk about this tree and all the bears at the picnic. The raffle drawing was held on Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 4:45pm and the following link has photos of that event:

  • 20151129 RWC Festival of Trees – the raffle drawing and tree delivery – November 29, 2015 – click here

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 671 raffle tickets to very kind and generous people.

Those tickets sold generated

$3,355.00

for Hiawatha Homes.

The Festival of Trees raffle expenses include $119.62 for the tree, $15.00 for the city gambling license, and $100.00 for the state gambling license for a net result of $3120.38!

 A note from Crystal at Hiawatha Homes:

"Thank you for your generous support again this year! It’s always a joy working with you. You are such an amazing group of talented, creative, kind group of people! Your project continues to be a guest favorite with many oohs and ahhs while enjoying your handiwork and creativity.


Hats off to you, Rochester Woodcarver’s Club! We are so pleased with this result. Thank you for your dedication to our mission!"

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 the tree topper and many of the ornaments used this year and the Rochester Woodcarvers thank them for their tremendous support!We delivered the base, tree and all the ornaments to the lucky winner’s home and set it up for them to celebrate this year’s Christmas season. Thank you for your support of the Hiawatha Homes and Rochester Woodcarvers!

Check out the Teddy Bear Picnic book Challenge.