Vicki L MorrisonEveryone is welcome to come and celebrate the Festival of Trees and Sixth Annual Christmas on the Wing events at CFB Greenwood. The weekend of November 29-30 promises to be full of merriment and cheer, topped off by a visit from Santa himself.
The Annual Festival of Trees fundraising event takes place on Saturday, November 29 in the Annapolis Mess from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Proceeds from the event are shared among the many organizations supported by 14 Wing’s Combined Charity Campaign such as the IWK children’s hospital, Canadian Cancer Society, Annapolis Valley District Schools, local food banks and over 50 other charities. Scotia Bank Greenwood will match funds raised up to $5,000.
The Festival of Trees features local businesses who have decorated table-top Christmas trees. The trees are then silently auctioned off to the public. Each tree has a theme and is fully decorated. Decorators have free reign and many trees hold gift certificates for local products and services.
“It brings our military community and the civilian community together to get into the spirit of Christmas, said Whidden-Dixon, program manager child and youth services 14 Wing Military Family Resource Centre, adding, “The trees are beautiful and the charities that receive the proceeds are grateful.”
The trees are available all weekend for viewing by the public. At the mess the MFRC will provide free one-hour childcare for children over two-years old. To mark the occasion 14 Wing Imaging will be taking Christmas family photos for a fee of $10.
The second event this weekend, Christmas On the Wing, which is a joint project of the 14 Wing MFRC, Community Centre and Wing Community Council takes place Sunday, November 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. adjacent to 4 hangar parking lot.
The free outdoor event includes horse drawn wagon rides, barbecued hotdogs and hot chocolate. There will also be a cookie decorating contest and face painting. The rink will be open for skating from 4 to 6 p.m. Identification will be required at the main gate.
A crowd favourite at Christmas on the Wing is the tree lighting. A natural spruce tree at the corner of Administration and Pathfinder Drive is lit as a welcome to all who enter the base over the season. It is estimated close to three hundred people from the civilian and military communities will attend the event.
“Our deployment families come to the tree lighting ceremony. They place yellow ribbons on the tree as a gentle reminder to everyone who drives on the Wing, military or civilian, that some families are celebrating differently this year. They are missing someone on Christmas morning,” explained Dixon.
This year Santa is expected to engage the services of the 14 Wing Fire Department to bring him to Christmas on the Wing in a fire truck. He is looking forward to seeing all of the children and wishes everyone near and far a very Merry Christmas.
For more information please contact 14 Wing MFRC. www.familyforce.ca/sites/
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