RideAbility1 – Cabin and Tree Raffle

The “Cabin in the Woods” tree is looking for a new home. The Woodcarvers originally built this tree for Hiawatha Homes’ Festival of Trees. At that time it went up on auction with a $3,500 winning bid.
It has now been completely renewed and is looking for a new owner.
RideAbility is raffling off the complete tree, ornaments and cabin base. The winning ticket will be drawn on September 14, 2025.

This web page will always have the most recent information. Don’t hesitate to come back for new photos and opportunities to purchase tickets.

Raffle tickets are now available! Details are on the Tickets Page

Photos & Videos

Photos and short videos of the cabin and the tree are on the Photos Page.

RideAbility is raffling a wonderful Christmas tree that was built by the Rochester Woodcarvers. The cabin was designed as a rustic log cabin representing the traditional 20×30 layout with a loft in a 1’=1″ scale. The property has a lake with fish and a loon. Along with all handmade wooden decorations, the large cabin base is inhabited by a family of bears. (Mama bear might be found in the kitchen wearing an apron.)

The decorated tree can be configured as either 4 or 6 feet tall. While it can sit on the floor, it also can be placed on the elevated tree trunk next to the cabin.

The cabin is effectively an extremely solid doll house. (Or maybe it should be called a bear house.) The back half of the roof can be removed for easy access to the interior. It contains multiple beds, a bunch of furniture, a full kitchen and fireplace with a flickering fire. Outside has porch chairs, a campfire (with marshmallows), a well, a bear rummaging through the trash can, a loon on the lake and of course an outhouse. A visiting girl sitting on the porch is reading stories to the bears.

There is a “Bookcase Challenge” on the tree. Try to locate the twin for each of the items on the bookcase. Look to find things like books, playing cards, a Monopoly board and even a tiny Rubik’s cube among the branches.

The tree is decorated with more than 100 handmade, wooden ornaments. It also has about 80 feet of a rustic garland with carved bears, moose and trees as well as a number of pieces created by the Zumbro Valley Woodturners. The tree’s LED lights have a controller offering 8 different lighting modes including all white or colored lights.

The cabin and tree were created in 2009. It has been completely refreshed by one of the original creators and is in fantastic condition. A new topper has been created with the color changing northern lights shining behind the silhouettes of a pair of bears.

The cabin and its base are just under 32.75 by 48 inches and 28 inches tall. (It may not fit through some doorways.)

The complete cabin, tree and all decorations will be hand delivered up to 150 miles from Rochester Minnesota.

To receive information about purchasing raffle tickets, go to the Tickets page.

The raffle proceeds will go to raising $5,000 for facility expenses.

  1. Located in Pine Island Minnesota, RideAbility serves families of children and adults with special needs by offering therapeutic, equine-related activities. They are a 501(c) non-profit organization run exclusively by volunteers. Their website is RideAbility.Org. You can also follow their activities on Facebook.
    The Rochester Woodcarvers are assisting their effort through the use of their website and volunteer labor. ↩︎