It’s never too early to think about Christmas and the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society wants you to plan now for its Tree Festival fundraiser.
The sooner the better, says museum coordinator Kanchan Lal, because this year’s eighth annual event has required some COVID-19 adaptations.
“This is such as an important community festival we want to get it going as best as we can,” said Lal.
The biggest changes this year include an earlier timeline, reduced entry fees to encourage greater participation and a requirement that trees be only 20 inches tall.
“We want you to be as creative as possible,” said Lal, who added trees can be pre-bought and decorated or hand-made out of any type of material.
They also have to be submitted well in an advance to provide time for COVID-19 “quarantine” and not require lighting or be a “live” tree that requires watering.
What is the same as every other year, however, is the fundraiser’s importance to the operation of the museum and its ability to provide historical and cultural education programs, including the recent Port Coquitlam’s F Words: The Story of our City’s Early Years and online education materials for children.
“We’re the only museum and archives in the city and we have its entire archives and collections and because we are a non-profit charity our only funding sources are fundraising and grants, we use the money for displays, school programs and community events,” Lal said.
The Christmas Tree Festival is also allows people to create or decorate their own trees as an individual, group or family and the community will choose the best.
Registration begins Oct. 13 and closes Nov. 7, with a $25 fee to participate. After that the trees can be dropped off from Nov. 9 to 17 at the museum. Then, on Dec. 1, the tree display goes up, the voting period takes place from Dec. 1 to Dec. 13 and on Dec. 14 the winners are announced.
There will also be a “Where’s Waldo” type of scavenger hunt with a list of things to find in the window display. For more information, visit pocoheritage.org
