Splashes of various colors from ornaments and lights on Christmas trees fill The Nolan Center’s lobby and hallway. Each tree has its own unique character. Some have stars on top and some don’t, one is completely handmade with sticks and lichen.
And one is about 3 feet high, made of bright green feathers. The tree curls to the side like points of a jester’s hat.
Over a few days, Wrangellites have come in and set up their trees for the Christmas Tree Lane auction. It’s a fundraiser for Wrangell’s hospice that’s been a tradition for the past two decades.
A family tradition
Stephanie Carney and three of her daughters were setting up and decorating an artificial tree here. It’s a yearly tradition. Her youngest dropped a couple round ornaments, and they bounced off the floor with a hollow noise before they put them on the tree.
“Since all my kids were little, we started decorating a tree for Christmas Tree Lane,” she said. “Just thinking it would be a good thing to raise money for hospice and a fun thing for my kids that they can actually do, because kids can decorate a tree.”
She said their first tree was with all homemade ornaments and a garland of popcorn. This year, it’s more mainstream ornaments that are red and gold.
“We have some poinsettias that we’re gonna stick on there and then we have a little light-up Christmas present that’s gonna sit under the tree to go with it,” she said.
Carney said she loves doing this.
“They can’t take care of their families at home…”
About three years ago, she started working at the hospital, which gave her a new perspective on hospice.
“It’s kind of close to my heart now, with so many people that just need help,” Carney said as she held back tears. “They can’t take care of their families at home, so it just gives their family extra help when they need it the most. So it’s a good cause.”
Her sixth grade daughter, Mariah, said she’s been participating in Christmas Tree Lane ever since she can remember. She said that her favorite tree was their Grinch tree.
“It was like a small Grinch head and arm coming out of the tree,” she said. “Wrapping its arm, and then its head was sticking out of the tree, like it was stealing it.”
On a different day, a group of women beeline from a table of ornaments to their tree. They softly chattered about some of the ornaments displayed out. They are the Stikine Stitchers, a quilting group of about 10 women.
“This is so cute, I wonder who made this one,” one of the ladies said in the background.
There are felted gnomes and elves with dangly legs and arms sitting on branches.
A quilt comes with one tree
Everyone in the group contributed to their tree. Their ornaments are all homemade.
Linnea Brooks helped her friends put the ornaments on the tree. She said that one of her fellow stitchers made the quilt they donate for the cause. It goes with the tree. She’s been making ornaments for this annual event for about a decade.
“Everybody makes any kind of ornaments they want and we just try to load the tree up,” Brooks said.
She said the group probably made about 100 ornaments together.
“We had a work session a couple Saturdays,” Brooks said. “Ladies bring their glue and their sparkles and sewing machines to our meeting, and we worked on ornaments.”
Alice Rooney has been Christmas Tree Lane’s main organizer for the last four years. She said it started right after they started the Dove Tree memorial ceremony. She said that’s where they support people who are going through grief around the holidays, and remembering those who have died. In a way, it’s like sharing the holidays with loved ones who are not around anymore.
“unusual trees, creative trees”
She said she likes seeing group projects and trees that are not quite ordinary. Last year there was one that looked like a cactus.
“It’s fun when people have brought in unusual trees, creative trees,” Rooney said. “One year we had one inverted. It was completely inverted, and that was really fun to see. And last year we had two trees that were very creative, one made out of driftwood.”
She said the auction usually brings in around $1,000 for hospice. The money goes to items that are useful for people at the end of their lives.
“We have the community loan closet,” Rooney said. “If there’s an item that we get a lot of demand for that we don’t have, we may buy, (like an) extra kind of a wheelchair or some kind of item that we wouldn’t otherwise have, and then we’ll just have those on hand.”
End-of-life resources for rural areas
They also raise the money for end-of-life resources that could help with questions like what to do with a body since there’s no mortician in Wrangell.
“There’s issues about bodies having to go to Anchorage, if there’s any kind of questionable death. There’s issues about being buried. Can you take somebody’s remains and dump them at sea? Can you dump them? Can you bury somebody in the woods? A lot of questions that are Wrangell questions that are interesting to answer,” Rooney said. “Some people will start calling, and some people will come running right down to get their trees, so they can have it set up for a week before Christmas. Sometimes we have several people standing around at the last minute waiting to make sure they get that tree that they want. We also have people voting for their favorite tree.”
Rooney said that the winner of the public’s favorite tree wins a small prize, but mostly bragging rights.
Christmas Tree Lane’s bidding closes on Thursdsay [Dec. 19] at 1 p.m. People can make their bid by filling out their contact info and bid on a sheet of paper next to each tree. Voters can drop their vote in a large can in the Nolan Center lobby, next to the Dove Tree.
