PORT ANGELES — Of the 58 decorated trees at the 25th annual Festival of Trees this weekend in the Vern Burton Community Center, one is a bucket list.
Crickett Rickenbacher, life enrichment coordinator at Laurel Place Assisted Living, created a Bucket of Dreams tree for the residents and employees at the home.
It will be among the trees on display at the Festival of Trees at the Vern Burton Community Center at 308 E. Fourth St., during Family Days today and Sunday.
Each of the trees were auctioned off at the Festival of Trees Gala on Friday night, the first day of the three-day festival that benefits the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Port Angeles Exchange Club.
Family Days will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and Sunday.
Along with viewing decorated trees and wreaths, visitors can enjoy musical entertainment and children’s activity areas will be offered.
Entry is $5 for adults, with children ages 8 and younger admitted free.
A Family Days Breakfast is set for 8:30 a.m. today. A limited number of tickets will be offered at the door for the sit-down breakfast in the festival forest of trees.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for children.
At the end of the festival on Sunday, the trees will be readied to be delivered to those who purchased them at the Festival of Trees auction.
For the Bucket of Dreams tree, residents and employees collected items to represent items on their bucket lists, either wishes already accomplished or things they want to do in the future.
“You can’t tell the difference by reading the list if the person is 18 or 80,” Rickenbacher said.
One of the items, a shot glass with waves, represents a resident who will be 100 years old in April — and who wants a shot of whiskey and to swim in the ocean, Rickenbacher said.
Other wishes include desires to visit the Oregon Beaver Hall of Fame, make one last tour of an archaeological site, drive a very fast car, ride a camel in Egypt and dance in the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle, Rickenbacher added.
“They don’t stop living just because their bodies get old,” she said.
Special gifts
Each of the decorated trees comes with premiums, special gifts that usually correspond with the tree’s theme.
This year’s theme for the festival is “The Nutcracker,” based on the ballet by Peter Tchaikovsky.
The 2015 trees are among the best that have ever been created for the annual festival, said Bruce Skinner, executive director of the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
“Designers are what make these trees what they are,” Skinner said.
Two Teddy Bear Teas, holiday teas among the forest of decorations, were held Friday.
The 2014 Festival of Trees gala dinner and auction raised $121,600 for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Port Angeles Exchange Club.
More than 500 attended that 2014 gala, including guests and volunteers — the largest attendance in the Festival of Trees history.
The OMC Foundation will use the money raised at the gala to pay for medical equipment and advanced training for health care providers.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
