LAC LA BICHE - The 2024 Festival of Trees concluded on the afternoon of Nov. 24 with the drawing of the winning names of people who had purchased raffle tickets for the 56 Christmas trees that had been on display throughout the Nov. 22 weekend. Cash raffle draws and daily door prizes were also dished out over the weekend.
Some of the big winners included Mike Lanlois who came away with the EDS Group -sponsored riding lawn tractor, and Calvin Crossland who came away with the tree and prizes on the Edcon Power Tongs entry.
A sizable group of folks gathered inside of the Bold Center Cenovus Fieldhouse two where volunteers with the Festival of Trees, which has been taking place since 2010, sorted the 80,000 raffle tickets that had been sold for this year’s edition of the popular community event.
The tickets were placed into plastic containers and shaken, and Pat Boon-Anderson, a retired teacher from JA Williams (JAWS) High School in Lac La Biche and co-founder of the Festival of Trees, drew the names of winners.
There was a winner for each of the trees that had been entered by businesses and individuals from the area for the tree viewing, which took place in the Bold Center community hall from Nov. 22-24.
These lucky winners were announced and contacted to come to the Bold Center to claim and pick up their trees.
Funds raised from the weekend event, including the net proceeds from the tree raffle, go back to local groups and agencies.