TORRINGTON – Each year the community rallies together to show its support for Gracie’s Promise by participating in the annual Festival of Trees event. The unique Christmas trees and other decor are spread throughout the town. Bids for the silent auction are now open.

“[The Festival of Trees is] obviously a good thing for Gracie’s Promise, but it also brings the community together by the time all the work on these trees is done,” Jane Dorn with Gracie’s Promise said. “Last week when I was putting up posters, I went into every story where they were going to have a tree and a lot of them were already in process. There was laughing, smiling and just a very nice group interaction.”

Each tree has been uniquely designed by members of the community. As usual, these creative people really outdid themselves to create fun Christmas decorations that could be great in any home. 

Smaller decorations, miniature trees and wreaths are located in the Community Room at Platte Valley Bank. While there is a wide array of themes, a few themes include the 4th of July, western ornaments, angels, sewing and snowmen. Among these items, there is also a Christmas quilt, stocking and a toy doll with clothes and a crib.

Bidding is open in the Community Room during the bank’s business hours until Saturday, Dec. 2 at noon. 

This year’s large tree locations are Eastern Wyoming Eye Clinic, Cottonwood County Club, 21st Century Equipment, Century Lumber, 307 Bar and Restaurant, LaGrange Community Room, This & That & Then Some, Bomgaars, Pinnacle Bank, First American Title, Heartland Embroidery, Goshen County Library, All Saints Episcopal Church, Bluebird Boutique, Bear Mountain Beef Sales (Town Market) and First State Bank.

The tree at Century Lumber has 12 handmade wooden ornaments made by Torrington High School junior Grady Shields. At 21st Century, the tree is designed with a John Deere theme. The tree includes green and animal ornaments and a fabric deer head topper.

“[The ornaments] are beautiful,” Mary Houser said. “They’re just treasures.”

At 307 Bar and Grill, the tree is designed with a beach theme. This tree has seashells, flipflops and starfish ornaments. The tree at Eastern Wyoming Eye Clinic was decorated in honor of Lingle-Ft. Laramie educator Rick Cotant. The decoration on this tree includes Coca-Cola ribbons, tiny glasses and inspirational ornaments.

Other themes include a sewing mannequin, snowmen, bells, animals, nutcrackers, snowflakes, books and Wyoming Cowboys. 

“Sarah at Pinecone Pottery, who does the Wyoming trees for Heartland embroidery, has been doing them for years,” Houser said. “Everyone is different and they’re always popular. This one is really nice.”

The bidding at the tree locations will be open until Monday, Dec. 11. The deadline for final bids may differ from location to location. The time should be posted at the bottom of the bid form.

To participate in the silent auction, select the item’s bid page then mark down a phone number and amount. Don’t forget to come back and check to see if the bid has changed. At the close of the auction, each business will notify the winner, receive payment, and then release the item to the winner.

“[This fundraiser,] helps not only get our name out there, so people are very aware that [Gracie’s Promise] still exists, it also helps raise money [for the organization],” Houser told the Telegram previously. “We are allowed to do silent auctions, but we’re not allowed to sell anything. Donations, this silent auction and any other money we get go to our families.”

This is a wonderful and fun opportunity to help support a worthy cause. 

“Gracie’s Promise is a Wyoming 501 (c)(3) non-profit charitable organization whose mission is to “give financial assistance to families with children, under 18 years of age, battling catastrophic medical circumstances,” according to www.graciespromise.org.

The rural regions, like Wyoming, families often have to travel long distances to large urban hospitals to get the children care for severe illnesses or disabling accidents. As a result, this often places extreme stress on the family’s work schedules and finances, as well as emotional and spiritual well-being. 

Gracie’s Promise was created to help families in this situation.

The story of Gracie Claborn, her family and her grandfather Bud Watson, the organization’s founder, can be found at www.graciespromise.org.

Since its creation, the program has grown through initial church foundation funding, volunteer work, and multiple fundraisers. As of 2021, Gracie’s Promise has helped almost 100 families. That number has only grown since. 

A few of the fundraisers for Gracie’s Promise include the Annual Festival of Trees, selling note cards of Watson’s artwork, selling holiday cards created by local school children, poker runs, and 5K runs.

For more information about Gracie’s Promise go to their website www.graciespromise.org or like them on Facebook.