Christmas tree festival set for Tonopah

An annual Christmas tree competition will kick off the holiday season in Tonopah, the Festival of Trees.

Scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Tonopah Convention Center from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., a family-friendly holiday event will bring together those Tonopah members who want to showcase their decorated Christmas trees and enter the contest.

From 8 a.m. until 1 p.m., the participants of the contest will put together their Christmas trees and at 2 p.m. the doors open for the public to come and view the trees until 6 p.m.

Deb Cobb, one of the organizers of the event, said anybody can enter the event. Other participants will be able to vote for their favorite tree and nominate one of the participants for the “People’s Choice Award.” The winner of the award is featured on a special plaque.

“Everybody who is doing it is just doing it for the generosity and for the spirit of Christmas,” Cobb said. … “Nobody wants anything, they just want to give.”

But it’s not just Christmas trees that get decorated. Cobb said that over the years, she has seen decorated ladders, sagebrush and mining headframes.

“It’s fun to see the creativity and the traditional Christmas trees,” she said.

While the event is free, participants have to pay $25 to enter their tree into the contest. Another option includes donating a tree to an auction where viewers can purchase it.

The money raised at the event will go toward building “a community disaster fund,” for people in need, Cobb said. The money will cover the types of emergencies that a community can’t help with, she added.

She said it’s the fifth year of the event, and more and more people are getting interested in it. She said organizers are hoping to see about 50 Christmas trees this year.

“People really enjoy it. We get more and more trees all the time and we are just hoping that it continues to grow,” Cobb said.

The night before the event, organizers will also hold a free movie night at the Tonopah Convention Center.