Festival to bring joy this Xmas
Last year at Middle Ridge
THIS is the last year Middle Ridge Uniting Church will host Toowoomba’s Christmas Tree Festival.
But the festival committee is hoping another church will take over the role of hosting the annual event.
In 2013 the church took over the festival from St Luke’s Anglican Church who ran the event for nine years.
Now the group is looking to pass on the collection of 100 Christmas trees and decorations to a new organisation.
Festival chairman Alan Pennington said it was an end of an era.
“We committed ourselves to five years and this year will be our final festival,” he said.
“The Christmas Tree Festival is very much a Christian community celebration and we would encourage the next host to continue to strive to produce an event that is welcoming, thought provoking, entertaining and inclusive for all visitors and participants.
“It is now time to pass the hosting of this event on to another church.”
The committee has chosen their final theme for the festival - Music in the Nativity.
This year’s festival was launched yesterday at the Toowoomba PCYC.
Mr Pennington announced a donation of $500 to the PCYC which will go towards its Braking the Cycle program.
He said he was excited to get the festival under way.
“It is always such a good 10 days and really gets people in the Christmas spirit,” he said.
The church will again be transformed into a Christmas wonderland with community groups decorating up to 100 trees which will be on display.
Residents are encouraged to take a peaceful interlude from the hustle and bustle of commercial Christmas by wandering through the forest of decorated trees.
There will be morning and nightly concerts and activities for the children.
Community groups and individuals can now apply to decorate a tree.
Visit mr.unitingchurch.org.au /tctf/tctf.html to put in an application to decorate a tree or to volunteer.
The Toowoomba Christmas Tree Festival will launch on Wednesday, December 6 and run until Friday, December 15.
If your church is interested in holding Toowoomba’s Christmas
❝It is now time to pass the hosting of this event on to another church.
— Alan Pennington
Tree Festival from 2018 onwards phone 0409 588 161 or search Toowoomba’s Christmas Tree Festival on Facebook.