Technology revives Festival of Trees

A popular Edmonton holiday fundraiser for local health care, seemingly killed by the pandemic, has been revived by technology.

Back in late April of this year, it was announced that the Festival of Trees — the 36-year-old festival that has raised more than $20 million for the University Hospital Foundation, which includes the University of Alberta, Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and Kaye Edmonton Clinic — was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It was pretty devastating for the volunteers to have to make that decision to cancel for this year,” said Beryl Bacchus, chairwoman for the 2020 Festival of Trees.

But a few weeks after the announcement, the idea of doing something virtual was brought up.

“We said, ` Why don't we do just a few virtual initiatives that are reflective of the festival?'” said Bacchus.

The festival, which normally would be held at the Edmonton Convention Centre, will now be held in your home with a virtual Christmas experience.

The festival will run from Nov. 20 to Dec. 20 and has lots of things for families to do and see.

What about a virtual visit from Santa Claus? That can be arranged.

Or story time with Mrs. Claus? You can see that, too.

There's also an online auction, which runs Nov. 20-29, where you can bid on things like toys, jerseys, jewelry, or even get a Porsche Taycan for a weekend.

Want to bring a part of the festival home? They have what's called Festival in a Box, a collection of items to help you celebrate, with one version for adults and one for kids.

“Some people I know have already prebooked and are having COVID Festival of Trees parties, where they've ordered their own box and are going to physically distance at home and share it together,” said Bacchus.

You can sign up and see more at festivaloftrees.ca.

All of this is to raise $1 million for researchers at the University of Alberta who are working on a way to restore memory in patients who have Alzheimer's disease.