A Tale Of ‘The Ugly Sapling’ At Tree Fest
By 10:30 a.m. Friday, “Feliz Navidad” had played so many times Mary Clarke had memorized the first verse.
Other groups decorating trees for Kootenai Medical Center’s Festival of Trees were vacuuming, packing away leftover ornaments, slipping on jackets. Not Mary’s group from Fernan Elementary.
“We’ll be the last ones here, I bet,” fretted school principal Pam Pratt, with a worried look around The Coeur d’Alene Resort conference room. “We have the smallest tree and we’ll be the last done.”
Around them, trees glittered with magic. Gold garlands. Baby’s breath. Stuffed animals. Twig wreathes. Some trees stood a regal nine or 10 feet high, with crystal and lace balanced on their flocked branches. The people behind these trees obviously were professionals.
Then there was Fernan’s tree. The Idaho Lottery paid $75 for it, then donated $1,000 in lottery tickets. The Fernan staff volunteered to decorate it.
“It’s a Charlie Brown tree,” Pam said with a long face when she saw the bare 5-foot tree behind the towering flocked fir of her neighbors.
But the disappointment didn’t last. Art teacher Christie Owens took charge. With patience, she wound strands of miniature white lights around fragile branches.
Pam and teacher’s aide Pam Nordby left for an hour and came back with a wooden box that stood 2 feet tall. They covered it with gold material, slipped it under their tree and watched their little fir gain stature.
Next came Santa on top with red garlands and gold coins spilling from his bag. They added Christmas stockings filled with lottery tickets, and gold coin ornaments. Fernan’s staff had glued, sewed and wired every free moment for three weeks.
Their tree tells the legend of the Christmas stocking - how a poor farmer had no dowry to offer for his marriageable daughters until St. Nicholas threw gold coins down his chimney. The coins landed in socks the girls had washed and hung by the fire to dry.
“It’s pretty,” said a little girl passing by, and the harried women smiled with relief. It’s not a Charlie Brown tree, after all.
Today is Family Day at the Festival of Trees, 10 a.m to 7 p.m. Children’s groups will perform and the 39 trees are on display.
Sugarplum fun
It would hardly be Christmastime without the sugarplum fairies of “The Nutcracker.”
The Eugene Ballet Company will perform the story of Clara and her enchanted prince at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday in North Idaho College’s Boswell Hall auditorium. Forty local children will get a chance to twirl with the 26 professionals in the production.
The North Idaho College Symphony provides the music, which is a nice change from the recorded music of the past. Call 769-7780 for tickets.
Tie one on
Remember Clay Larkin, the fly-tying teacher in Post Falls? He and his apprentice, Larry Hammer Jr., will teach fly-tying at the Post Falls Arts Commission, 419 Frederick, 9 a.m. to noon, Dec. 16.
Clay uses all natural materials - deer, elk, skunk, bear - to catch mackinaw and chinook. Seems like those flies would make great Christmas presents. Call 777-9278 to sign up.
The name game
There’s no quicker way to exhume a person’s past than to suggest naming a public building after him or her.
Whose name do you want to see on a building? Nominate your favorites for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
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