AKRON, Ohio — The pandemic grinch forced an Akron favorite to go virtual the past two years, but the Holiday Tree Festival has returned in 2022 with in-person festivities at the John S. Knight Center.
The festival, which opened over the weekend, continues from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 14 through Nov. 18 and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 19.
The event, now in its 41st year, raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for programs, education and research at Akron Children's Hospital.
According to Mary Leuca, chairperson of the festival, there are 129 trees, more than 80 wreaths and about 200 holiday gifts on display. Most of the trees have been priced and sold. A few others will be raffled off. Regardless, all of the items will remain at the center for the public to view until Saturday.
"We are down to 17 trees, 14 wreaths and 21 gifts (to buy)," Leuca told News 5 during a Monday morning interview.
Among some of the more unique trees include those decorated with Batman, Star Wars, and Ohio State marching band themes.
Margie McConnell, who designs a dining room tree and adds several other items for a raffle each year, said it was hard to capture the Christmas spirit through Zoom the last two years. She's happy to see fellow decorators and the crowds return.
"Now we're back to this and we're very happy that we're back to this and we all missed each other," McConnell said.
Leuca said all of the glitter and fancy decorating is great to get people through the doors, but she stressed helping out sick kids and their families is the main mission.
"They are our future. These are kids. They are such little fighters and we want to do everything we can for them," Leuca said.
Friends Jan Jones and Kim Meals attended the festival and marveled at how creative the decorators are each year.
"It's amazing what people come up with," Jones said.
"This is something my family and I used to do together, gosh 20 years ago," Meals said. "It's something that's always been special to me."
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