The Pontiac Agricultural Society (PAS) hosted a three-day Tinsel and Tidings event from Thursday to Saturday last week, raising $1455.05 each for two local charities, The Snowsuit Fund and The Angel Tree Fund.
On Thursday, teams of up to six people gathered at the Homecraft building at the fairgrounds and were able to decorate a Christmas tree. In total 13, trees were decorated, all from businesses and organizations eager to show off their creative side. The trees were then on display to the public on Friday and Saturday.
Anyone who attended on Friday or Saturday was able to cast a vote for their favourite tree. Cartrites restaurant won first place overall, Killarneys Bar placed second and M&R Feeds placed third. There was no admission fee to view the trees, however donations were accepted and added to the total raised for charity.
PAS president Vaughan Bastien played auctioneer for the six trees whose owners decided to auction them: Pontiac Ag Society, Atelier Bastien, Shawville 150, M&R Feeds, Municipality of Clarendon and Killarneys Bar. Killarney’s tree brought in the largest amount for a whopping $650.
Co-organizer and PAS director Nancy Tubman said that the charities that would receive funds from the auction were decided on by the groups that decorated the trees.
“They were given a choice. They could pick out of five different charities, each team picked two and then we counted the votes, and the Angel Tree and Snowsuit Fund got the most votes,” Tubman said.
Tubman added that the event was the first of its kind for Shawville and that they hope to host the event again next year “with a little more notice.”
She encourages everyone to start planning their ideas now.
