That holiday feeling!

It’s great to see a group of New London merchants and others step up and keep an important local holiday tradition alive after it appeared it would fall victim to a political squabble.

The first annual Evening of Giving takes place tonight at 6 at 305 State St., part of the Garde Arts Center. It continues the spirit of the Festival of Trees, which had been a Christmastime mainstay for the past 12 years.

Like its predecessor, the event will raise critically needed dollars for the Community Meal Center on Montauk Avenue. Without it, the center that provides free meals for those in need would have a big hole in its revenue stream.

As was the case with the Festival of Trees, organizers will auction off decorated Christmas trees. There will also be auctions and raffles for Garde show tickets, restaurant certificates and other items. The Garde is providing the space.

Applause is also due the members of the Downtown New London Association and its executive director, Barbara Neff, for the 12 years they organized the Festival of Trees. That event did not happen every December without a lot of time and effort.

According to Neff, association board members decided in October not to undertake the fundraising event this year after The Day and City Council Chairwoman Erica Richardson pushed for more details on how much the city spends in support of the annual Sailfest event. Held in July, Sailfest is by far the biggest event for the DNLA.

In announcing DNLA’s plans to abandon the Festival of Trees event, Neff noted how exhausting it was to deal with the Sailfest inquiry. We suspect that members of the group were also feeling a bit unappreciated. Yet raising questions about government spending is part of the job of news organizations and elected leaders. Offense should not have been taken.

Stepping up to lead the event in its new form is Amy Sarcia, owner of New London’s 2 Wives restaurant. She concluded the event and the cause it helps support were too important to let go. In organizing this year’s festival in a relatively short time, an impressive number of people stepped forward to provide time and materials.

It deserves public support. Ideally, everyone can be back on the same page in support of it come next December.