Queen's annual Festival of Trees reaches a crescendo
| • | Festival of Trees facts |
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Below, clockwise from top left: Renowned local photographer Kim Taylor Reece, local entertainer Henry Kapono and University of Hawai'i Warrior football coach June Jones show off the Christmas trees they decorated. The trees will be auctioned to benefit The Queen's Medical Center.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser 50th Annual Festival of Trees 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday (silent-auction bidding closes at 2 p.m. Sunday) Ward Warehouse, second floor, Kaka'ako and Kewalo rooms $1 (free for 12 and younger) 547-4397 |
Wrong-o, bub.
Long after the photographers had gone, Jones came back to look over the metallic sculpture hung with autographed football-shaped ornaments when a staffer pointed out that someone hadn't signed one.
"Who didn't sign it?" he demanded in that gruff way only the Warriors head coach can, then reached for a roster to check names.
Woe be the player who doesn't perform for the good of the team — or in this case, for the good of the cause that as Jones himself knows, once saved his life.
The annual Festival of Trees has raised more than $2 million for projects at The Queen's Medical Center, and though this will be the last year for the annual event, money from the current event, which begins tomorrow, will go toward a new mammogram machine for the Women's Health Center. The event, which includes a silent auction, takes many hours to arrange, and the next group of volunteers has chosen to let it end at its 50th year.
What will take its place?
"We're still looking and deciding," said Queen's representative Lynn Kenton.
Kenton was on hand this year, when gathered in a UH conference room for a bit of publicity for the good cause, the three hunky celebrity tree trimmers played it up for the camera, flexing muscles on cue. Between Kim Taylor Reece's gold lauhala roses and Henry Kapono's silly-string-and-music themed tree, the mood was as light as a reindeer's hoof on the rooftops.
That is, until they all came back to Jones' office, and turned reflective on the meaning of the season, and why they lend their names to the fund-raiser, as they have year after year (Jones, four years, Taylor Reece and Kapono, three each).
Why do it? Well, the short answer — in Jones' words — is that it "kicks off Christmas."
Long answer: Taylor Reece (who served as a hospital corpsman and medic in the military, and remembers the Christmases spent in the company of wounded soldiers): "It helps me celebrate, and it benefits patients. There's a special family in the hospital. When you're with those guys (wounded soldiers) ... well, it just makes me happy to be alive."
Kapono: "I'm glad I'm here (to be able to help). I do a lot of touring, but at Christmas, I come home. That's what it's all about. Family and friends getting together at Christmas."
Jones: "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for those people at Queen's. They put my heart back together. Every time I hear that word, it brings me back to the thoughts of that time. Had it not been for the people there ... (his voice trailed off)."
Sure, here he sounds like a softie, but later, when he's back to the rampaging coach with the roster in his hand, someone has to point out to him that there are more ornaments than players. That's why there's a signature-less ornament. So he takes it, charges out of the room and returns minutes later, with a Cal Lee-autographed piece.
Grinch, sminch.
Maybe it will be June Jones and team who'll save Christmas.
Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8035.
Festival of Trees facts
- It includes a holiday bazaar with thousands of handmade gifts, and a silent-auction fund-raiser with miniature Christmas trees decorated by local celebrities such as Tori Richard, Vicky Cayetano and Emme Tomimbang.
- In the first year of the fund-raiser,1954, the money raised — $1,400 — was used for a pediatric playroom.
- There has never been a tree that didn't get at least a minimum bid.
- This year's event has more trees than ever before.
- Since its inception, the event has raised more than $2 million for everything from ultrasound diagnostic equipment to a surgical laser, Hawai'i's first magnetic resonance imaging unit and neuroscience equipment.
- Auxiliary volunteers work year-round to create trees, ornaments, wreaths, centerpieces and baskets for display and sale.
