Dec. 1, 2007

The Place at Southpark Assisted Living Community and Friendship Trays partnered this year for the second annual Festival of Trees, with proceeds benefiting Friendship Trays.

After a nine-day display of decorated holiday trees and silent auction items, The Place hosted a holiday celebration on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Runnymede Lane assisted living facility.

Chef Ron Ahlert, executive director of the Community Culinary School of Charlotte, was auctioneer as 19 trees and two mantel decorations were auctioned. The event filled the dining room. Decorated trees were placed throughout the first floor of the facility.

A silent auction of smaller holiday decor items ran in tandem with the tree auction.

Pictures of the trees are on the Celebration page of this site.

Charlotte had only a short-lived experience with a Festival of Trees in the 1980s. But today's many Midwest and West Coast transplants can help explain to Charlotte natives the glitter, excitement and public good done for decades by such community festivals.

John Klevins, the California transplant who administers The Place at Southpark, said he began the Festival in 2006 to show his community to the public and to have a grand holiday experience for residents.

 Two Men and a Truck agreed to transport trees to homes next week.

[Plans for a 2008 Festival were dropped as The Place underwent a change of ownership in which it got a new name, Summit Place of Southpark.]