WORLAND — Each year Pinnacle Bank sponsors the Festival of Trees to raise funds that is then donated to many local non-profit organizations. Funds are raised through the auction, which was Friday, Dec. 2, with many businesses and organizations decorating trees, wreaths and more for the auction.

Some decorators have participated for many years, with different reasons on why they are involved in helping their community.

Nikki Donahue, a decorator and owner/broker for Berkshire Hathaway Hake Realty, enjoys this opportunity to teach youth how to be active in their community. She said “I love the Festival of Trees because it goes to a lot of different charities that are local. We particularly like this event because we can involve the kids in community service. Donahue said that every year Hake Realty incorporates an elementary or kindergarten class in designing their tree, and this year the class that participates was Rachel Cruz’s first grade class. The students were provided with supplies and made their own ornaments for the tree.

Donahue said that the theme of each year’s tree is inspired by a children’s book, and this year’s theme was kindness.

Tammy Kunz, representing Worland Senior Center, said that she is just passionate about the holiday season. She said “I like to decorate. It’s my favorite time of the year.” She gets her ideas from pieces she finds throughout the year to draw inspiration from. This year, she said that her inspiration was from something she found at a garage sale in the summer and thought it would be an interesting tree ornament, and that the rest of the theme took shape thereafter.

The theme for the Worland Senior Center tree this year will be “Bring back the good old days,” said Kunz.

Carolyn Marcus, a representative of O.W.L. Unlimited, said that she thought the event was important to her clients. She said, “We want our clients to feel like they are a part of the community, and this is a really big opportunity for us to get out and do it. O.W.L. Unlimited had by far the most help decorating this year, as clients and staff alike worked to cover the tree in decorations.”

The theme for their tree is typically one of many suggestions that come from staff that is then decided on by the clients. The theme for their tree this year was Disney, because the organization plans to take a trip to a Disney theme park soon.

In addition to their participation in decorating the tree, O.W.L. Unlimited also performed a dance routine during the entertainment portion of the Festival of Trees event on Saturday at the Washakie Community Center Complex.