Nov. 22, 2010
Festival of Trees and Trains
By Sandee Lloyd
Dickens of a Christmas is this year's theme for the Paramount Woman's Association 26th edition of the Festival of Trees and Trains presented through November 28 at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, Kentucky.
Visiting the festival is a holiday tradition for our family and a perfect way to
start the Christmas season. As always, the Paramount is transformed into a
Christmas wonderland of gorgeously decorated trees and wreaths, gingerbread
houses and a huge train layout.
Entering the Paramount you see the display of gingerbread houses. These are not your ordinary gingerbread houses, but rather a fanciful array of all kinds of structures from cabins to modest houses, to an elaborate Victorian style house. There is the Polar Express and a Halloween-themed Christmas house, with pumpkins wearing Santa hats, and one tiny gingerbread village.
Continuing through the entrance area you find doors of all colors, each with a wreath or hanging. The wreaths are all themed, many are traditional with ornaments, berries, flowers and ribbons, but some are more original, with the addition of teddy bears, snowmen and one with a "Twilight" movie theme. Some use neon colors while others stay with the familiar red, green, white, silver and gold usually seen.
There were a couple of home décor items too that were lovely. A lighted glass brick encased in silver ribbon and white flowers was especially pretty. A beautiful stained glass angel in a blue gown carrying a white dove hangs between the doors.
Once inside the building you will find tokens to vote for your favorite tree, which is a nearly impossible task as there are so many to choose from, each lovelier than the one before.
There are raffle tickets available, one costing $1 with the winner receiving a table full of gift baskets. The other costs $5 and the winner claims a $1,500 shopping spree from the Big Sandy Superstore. You could make someone, or a group of someones, very happy with either of these prizes, and the money goes to charity.
Climb the stairs into the theatre and you step into a Christmas-lover's dream. There are dozens of brightly lit Christmas trees, ranging from tiny tabletop trees to huge room-filling displays. These trees aren't simply decorated trees, but rather part of a scene. Each tree is surrounded by themed items creating a beautiful display. There aren't any "Charlie Brown" trees here. All of them are full and gorgeous.
White lights seem to be the dominate color, but there were multi-colored lights, as well as trees covered with blue, red or purple lights. While most of the trees were green, there were several white ones and others in pink, blue and purple.
Several of the trees are so outstanding they were sold during the preview, but will still be on display throughout the week. The remaining trees can be bid on, with the winner collecting them at the end of next week.
A number of the trees had the Dickens theme and one featured Department 56 Dickens Village houses around the base. One had a statue of Scrooge in his nightshirt standing next to the tree. Snowmen were a popular theme and birds were another. One tree had tiny white owls in the branches. Chick-Fil-A filled a miniature tree with tiny stuffed cows and red feathers. Feathers were featured on several trees. There are trees with a breast cancer awareness theme.
Local schools designed small trees and they had trees touting the joy of Art and expressing yourself, religion and peace. Mother Goose peeked out of another tree, and one tree was used as the body for Santa and was accompanied by a long list of children's names.
Plan to spend a couple of hours just looking at the trees, as each tree has so much to see that they require more than a cursory glance.
The train layout covers a huge section of the upper level, and can be viewed from several spots. There are windows that allow you to see into the lower part of the layout and bridges that run around the perimeter. The layout has buildings dated to 2005 with new ones added every year. This year twelve new buildings were added. Volunteers set it up and spend many thousands of hours working on the layout. Trains of various sizes run throughout, with the larger trains being the most visible, but if you look carefully you can see tiny "N" scale trains in the center. There is a working ski lift with people riding up and down a mountain. Like the trees, the train requires some time spent watching it. You'll find new things to look at from every angle
All week different groups are performing on the stage. While I was there the Huntington Harmonica Club was performing, followed by singer Steve Free. There will be singers and dancers all week. Tuesday night there will be a Christmas parade in Ashland, and Wednesday brings Children's Trains on Stage where area children can play with trains.
Little Ava Daniel was there with her grandmother Susie Daniel. Susie told me they were there to see the harmonica players and that Ava loved to watch them. While they were playing, Ava danced and clapped and clearly enjoyed the music. She was fascinated by the trees and trains too.
I talked with a lady visiting from Florida who said it was her first time visiting the Festival of Trees and she was very pleased with it.
Many displays have award ribbons and I don't envy the judges having to decide which ones were winners. They are all winners in my book.
The Paramount has a gift and coffee shop that is also worth a visit. There are holiday sweaters, a bear Christmas tree, holiday bears, Christmas jewelry and gift items. You are sure to find something for every member of your family.
When you're ready for a break from Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping, gather up the family and stop by the Paramount Arts Center to see the Festival of Trees and Trains. Continue or start a Holiday tradition. You'll be glad you did.
Pictures show Ava and Susie Daniel, the Huntington Harmonica Club performing, Steve Free performing, trees, trains, wreaths, gingerbread houses, table of raffle prizes and scenes from the festival. These pictures and many others can be seen at http://lloydphotography.ifp3.com.
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By Sandee Lloyd
Dickens of a Christmas is this year's theme for the Paramount Woman's Association 26th edition of the Festival of Trees and Trains presented through November 28 at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, Kentucky.
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Entering the Paramount you see the display of gingerbread houses. These are not your ordinary gingerbread houses, but rather a fanciful array of all kinds of structures from cabins to modest houses, to an elaborate Victorian style house. There is the Polar Express and a Halloween-themed Christmas house, with pumpkins wearing Santa hats, and one tiny gingerbread village.
Continuing through the entrance area you find doors of all colors, each with a wreath or hanging. The wreaths are all themed, many are traditional with ornaments, berries, flowers and ribbons, but some are more original, with the addition of teddy bears, snowmen and one with a "Twilight" movie theme. Some use neon colors while others stay with the familiar red, green, white, silver and gold usually seen.
There were a couple of home décor items too that were lovely. A lighted glass brick encased in silver ribbon and white flowers was especially pretty. A beautiful stained glass angel in a blue gown carrying a white dove hangs between the doors.
Once inside the building you will find tokens to vote for your favorite tree, which is a nearly impossible task as there are so many to choose from, each lovelier than the one before.
There are raffle tickets available, one costing $1 with the winner receiving a table full of gift baskets. The other costs $5 and the winner claims a $1,500 shopping spree from the Big Sandy Superstore. You could make someone, or a group of someones, very happy with either of these prizes, and the money goes to charity.
Climb the stairs into the theatre and you step into a Christmas-lover's dream. There are dozens of brightly lit Christmas trees, ranging from tiny tabletop trees to huge room-filling displays. These trees aren't simply decorated trees, but rather part of a scene. Each tree is surrounded by themed items creating a beautiful display. There aren't any "Charlie Brown" trees here. All of them are full and gorgeous.
White lights seem to be the dominate color, but there were multi-colored lights, as well as trees covered with blue, red or purple lights. While most of the trees were green, there were several white ones and others in pink, blue and purple.
Several of the trees are so outstanding they were sold during the preview, but will still be on display throughout the week. The remaining trees can be bid on, with the winner collecting them at the end of next week.
A number of the trees had the Dickens theme and one featured Department 56 Dickens Village houses around the base. One had a statue of Scrooge in his nightshirt standing next to the tree. Snowmen were a popular theme and birds were another. One tree had tiny white owls in the branches. Chick-Fil-A filled a miniature tree with tiny stuffed cows and red feathers. Feathers were featured on several trees. There are trees with a breast cancer awareness theme.
Local schools designed small trees and they had trees touting the joy of Art and expressing yourself, religion and peace. Mother Goose peeked out of another tree, and one tree was used as the body for Santa and was accompanied by a long list of children's names.
Plan to spend a couple of hours just looking at the trees, as each tree has so much to see that they require more than a cursory glance.
The train layout covers a huge section of the upper level, and can be viewed from several spots. There are windows that allow you to see into the lower part of the layout and bridges that run around the perimeter. The layout has buildings dated to 2005 with new ones added every year. This year twelve new buildings were added. Volunteers set it up and spend many thousands of hours working on the layout. Trains of various sizes run throughout, with the larger trains being the most visible, but if you look carefully you can see tiny "N" scale trains in the center. There is a working ski lift with people riding up and down a mountain. Like the trees, the train requires some time spent watching it. You'll find new things to look at from every angle
All week different groups are performing on the stage. While I was there the Huntington Harmonica Club was performing, followed by singer Steve Free. There will be singers and dancers all week. Tuesday night there will be a Christmas parade in Ashland, and Wednesday brings Children's Trains on Stage where area children can play with trains.
Little Ava Daniel was there with her grandmother Susie Daniel. Susie told me they were there to see the harmonica players and that Ava loved to watch them. While they were playing, Ava danced and clapped and clearly enjoyed the music. She was fascinated by the trees and trains too.
I talked with a lady visiting from Florida who said it was her first time visiting the Festival of Trees and she was very pleased with it.
Many displays have award ribbons and I don't envy the judges having to decide which ones were winners. They are all winners in my book.
The Paramount has a gift and coffee shop that is also worth a visit. There are holiday sweaters, a bear Christmas tree, holiday bears, Christmas jewelry and gift items. You are sure to find something for every member of your family.
When you're ready for a break from Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping, gather up the family and stop by the Paramount Arts Center to see the Festival of Trees and Trains. Continue or start a Holiday tradition. You'll be glad you did.
Pictures show Ava and Susie Daniel, the Huntington Harmonica Club performing, Steve Free performing, trees, trains, wreaths, gingerbread houses, table of raffle prizes and scenes from the festival. These pictures and many others can be seen at http://lloydphotography.ifp3.com.
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