Overview
The Trees of Life is KHAKY's signature fundraising event. It is held every year in late November or early December in the lower level of the Mall at Lexington Green. Professionally decorated Christmas trees and Holiday décor items are displayed and sold to the public over the 4 day event. Local musicians and performers entertain guests as they wander through the display of trees and visit our gift shop.
The trees and holiday décor items are sponsored by local businesses, individuals and organizations. Sponsorship opportunities are outlined in our annual sponsorship packet.
From Setup to Takedown
Beginning the Sunday before the Trees of Life begins through the final Sunday of the 4 day event.
Volunteers load up and deliver the staging, undecorated trees and gift shop items the Sunday prior to the Trees opening to the public. On Sunday afternoon, decorators begin arriving to create their masterpieces. Each decorator selects a theme, provides all of the decorations and skillfully decorates their tree as a donation to KHAKY. Interested decorators can contact KHAKY to request a tree or décor item to decorate.
Celebrities volunteer to decorate 2' trees with autographed stars. Their trees reflect their own tastes and personalities and have become a popular part of the Trees of Life. They deliver their decorated trees for display between Sunday and Wednesday.
By Thursday evening, the finished display is ready to open to special guests at our Preview Party. Guests purchase tickets online or at the door to enjoy the Flavors of Lexington Green, a sampling of items from Lexington Green restaurants, and a tour of the trees. Live entertainment, cash bar, and a fun silent auction add to the evening's enjoyment. Tree sponsors are invited to select the tree for their sponsorship during this event.
On Friday at 9AM the Trees of Life is open to the general public. Entertainment begins at 6PM on the stage in the center of the trees display.
Saturday features our Family Fun time from 11AM-2PM complete with pictures with Santa, crafts, face painting and special guests. Live entertainment begins later in the afternoon and continues through the close at 9PM.
Sunday wraps up the event. The display and gift shop open at noon and any unsold trees and décor items will be sold through silent auction. Bidders are free to bid on trees from Friday through 4PM on Sunday. The trees are for sale at the "buy it now" price anytime prior to Sunday. The trees still available through silent auction will be sold at the close of the auction on Sunday. KHAKY reserves the right to place minimum bids on trees and retain them if those minimum bids are not met. Those items may be kept on display at the Mall at Lexington Green for sale at the minimum bid price throughout the remainder of the holiday season.
By 5PM on Sunday, volunteers rally to break down the display, load it up and bring it back to the KHAKY office for storage till next year.
Volunteer Opportunities
To staff a 4 day event requires lots of dedicated volunteers. Greeters, gift shop workers, refreshment teams are needed in four hour shifts beginning on Friday through the close on Sunday.
Set up requires strong backs and organized volunteers that can load and unload the truck and organize the items for an efficient and quick set up.
Hosts and hostesses for the Preview Party are needed to man the registration table, welcome guests, assist with the auction items and check out. Set up for the Preview Party is another great volunteer opportunity when arranging auction items, tables, and other tasks must be carefully completed.
Family Fun time requires lots of assistance. Taking pictures with Santa, printing them out, coordinating the children and their parents, working with crafts, face painting, refreshments and crowd control are all important jobs for volunteers. Additional help with the gift shop and protecting the display areas is also important.
Sunday afternoon requires volunteers to sign up bidders and assign them their bid numbers, monitor the bidding, staff the gift shop, work the refreshment table, greet guests, pass out programs, assist buyers with their purchases, and help break down the sets once the day is completed.
Sunday evening requires fresh strong backs to help box and load all of the supplies and staging and take them back to the KHAKY office.
Volunteer opportunities are available at UW Volunteer Solutions or by email .
