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The Festival of Trees at the historic Embassy Theatre and Indiana Hotel is a highly anticipated tradition during the holiday season. From Nov. 25-Dec. 1, the lobbies of the Embassy Theatre and Indiana Hotel are transformed into a beautifully decorated wonderland of Christmas trees. Founded in 1984, the Festival of Trees is a fundraising and community goodwill event that supports ongoing operational and restoration efforts for the Embassy Theatre Foundation, Inc. This year's festival will be a spectacular celebration of the event’s 25 years in Fort Wayne. The 25th anniversary theme is Silver Bells.
Event dates and times:
Night of Lights, Wed., Nov. 25, 6-9 p.m.
Festival of Trees, Thurs., Nov. 26, 4-8 p.m. (featuring Grande Page Organ music)
Festival of Trees, Fri.-Sun., Nov. 27-29, 12-8 p.m. (youth entertainment on the Embassy stage)
Senior Day, Mon. Nov. 30, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Festival of Trees, Tues., Dec.1, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Tickets: $6 for adults, $3 for children 12 & under. On sale now at the Embassy box office, all Ticketmaster locations, Ticketmaster.com and all MidWest America FCU locations.
Special features for this year’s Festival of Trees include:
Night of Lights: To kick off the holiday festivities, the annual downtown holiday lighting ceremony takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 25, with the Harrison Street Windows open for viewing. The Festival of Trees is open to the public from 6-9 p.m. The Embassy silver screen will feature Warner Brothers cartoons, and special guests include Icy from the Fort Wayne Komets, the Mad Ant from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Johnny from the Fort Wayne TinCaps.
Harrison Street Windows: Designers David and Kathy James from Corner House Creations, along with artist Don Johnson, created a special storyline using animated elves rescued from a Cincinnati department store. Fort Wayne Metals replaced all the motors and the elves were refurbished with new clay faces, hands and feet, and outfitted with brand-new clothing. The storyline is the adventure of a group of elves that must recover a silver bell stonel by a troll named Glob and get it to the Festival of Trees. Sponsors are Fort Wayne Metals Products Corporation, MidWest American Federal Credit Union and NIPSCO.
Holiday Windows: The Embassy box office window will be created by Suzan Zimmerman featuring custom designer art glass. A Party Apart will create the large window on Harrison Street with an emphasis on the color silver. The nativity window sponsored by Mike’s CarWash will return to the corner window on Jefferson Boulevard.
Environmental Trees: The Embassy will continue to green the Festival of Trees with an eco-friendly display of nine trees. The alternative energy tree, sponsored by Don Ayres Honda and designed by Ann Beeching of the Northeast Indiana Green Build Coalition, will return as a live tree. Patrons ride a bicycle which then powers the lights of this energy tree. Four additional live trees will be lit with LED lights, donated by Lowe’s and decorated with an environmental theme. Indiana Michigan Power will sponsor the live tree grove. The live trees will be donated to Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation for planting.
In addition to the live trees, four local artists will create artistic alternatives to a traditional Christmas tree. Each tree will be designed with a unique environmental concept using found objects, recycled materials and minimal energy. Sponsors for the green art trees are National Serv-All and Weigand Construction.
Wells Fargo Money Tree: The Wells Fargo money tree will return for the 25th consecutive year. Visitors pay $1 to guess the amount of money on the tree. The closest guess wins the amount on the tree.
Special Guests: The Pocket Lady returns to the festival this year. She will wander around the festival, pockets brimming with items for children. Children may purchase two items for one dollar. Also, Santa and Mrs. Claus reside in Santa Land, where life-size toy soldiers greet children as they enter a bright and colorful holiday wonderland of candy canes, toys and presents to sit on Santa’s lap and whisper their holiday wishes.
Breakfast with Santa: Children and their families will enjoy breakfast on the Embassy Theatre stage on Friday, Nov. 27, and Saturday, Nov. 28, 9:30-11 a.m. A visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus completes the event. Admission is $10 per person, with payment required at the time of reservation. Contact Macy’s at 260.484.1561 ext. 3338 for a reservation. Space is limited.
Senior Day: Kingston Healthcare senior day is Monday, Nov. 30, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Seniors can enjoy live organ music on the Grande Page pipe organ, view the spectacular trees throughout the historic facility and make purchases in the holiday gift shop.
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