Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
The Festival Of Trees Keeps Kirkwood's Holiday Walk Going Until December 4
Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
"The winner of each tree and wreath gets to take home the tree on December 4th and display it for the Holidays in their own home." That sentence comes from the Downtown Kirkwood Festival of Trees page. It describes the last day of an event Kirkwood is holding for the first time this year.
The first-ever Kirkwood Festival of Trees opens Saturday, November 21, the same day as the Downtown Kirkwood Holiday Walk. Trees and wreaths decorated by Kirkwood-area businesses, organizations and community partners will stand in the lobby of the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center for two weeks. The Holiday Walk still starts the season on a single Saturday morning. Now the festival keeps it going indoors until a raffle drawing on Friday, December 4, and its hours follow whatever is on stage at KPAC.
On November 21, Santa appears at two downtown Kirkwood venues, about four hours apart.
The day starts at the train station. According to Downtown Kirkwood's Holiday Walk page, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive by train at 8:40 a.m., and Santa poses for photos inside the station from 9 a.m. to noon. Downtown Kirkwood's specialty stores offer holiday sales and special offers. The Lucille Rapp Tumblers and Dancers perform at Station Plaza at noon.
In the afternoon he moves to the theater. The Festival of Trees kickoff runs at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center with hot cocoa and coffee, and Santa makes an appearance there from 1 to 2 p.m. On opening day the displays are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so the festival overlaps the end of the train station photos and runs well past them.
| Time on Saturday, Nov. 21 | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 8:40 a.m. | Kirkwood train station | Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive by train |
| 9 a.m. to noon | Inside the train station | Photos with Santa |
| 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | KPAC lobby | Festival of Trees viewing, raffle tickets on sale |
| Noon | Station Plaza | Lucille Rapp Tumblers and Dancers |
| 1 to 2 p.m. | KPAC | Santa at the festival kickoff |
| 7:30 p.m. | KPAC | PINK'D |
The last row matters for the rest of the festival. KPAC's events calendar lists PINK'D for 7:30 p.m. that night. The festival page says the displays are open one hour before and during KPAC performances, so the lobby trees are on view again that evening after daytime viewing ends at 4.
The festival keeps three kinds of hours. On weekdays the displays are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The two Saturdays, November 21 and November 28, run longer, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And at any time, the lobby opens one hour before and during a KPAC performance.
The festival page doesn't list separate Sunday hours, so on the two Sundays in the run, viewing depends on the stage schedule. The MetroTix listing for KPAC shows a performance on each of them.
| Date | On stage at KPAC | Festival viewing |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 21 | PINK'D, 7:30 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus before and during the show |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | University City Symphony Orchestra | Before and during the performance |
| Weekdays, Nov. 23 to Dec. 4 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | The Nutcracker Ballet | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus before and during the performance |
| Sun., Nov. 29 | The Nutcracker Ballet | Before and during the performance |
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Carmen Bonner | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., plus before and during the performance |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Raffle drawing at 2 p.m. |
Check MetroTix for show times. Weekday viewing closes at 2 p.m., the same hour as the December 4 drawing, so the festival's final weekday ends exactly when the raffle is drawn.
Every display carries a label with the participating business or organization and the name of the display. Some trees include gift cards, products, themed decorations or other surprises, picked to show off the business behind them.
Raffle tickets cost $5 each and are sold online. Each ticket goes toward the specific tree or wreath you pick, so a ticket is a vote for one display. The drawing is Friday, December 4 at 2 p.m., and each winner takes their tree or wreath home that day. Those trees will have spent two weeks in the KPAC lobby before they reach anyone's living room, which leaves the rest of December to enjoy them at home.
A panel of judges also picks winners in these categories:
After the drawing, the display with the most raffle entries is named Community Favorite. The judges choose the category winners, but ticket buyers decide the Community Favorite, one $5 entry at a time.
The ticket money stays local. Proceeds benefit the Kirkwood Arts Foundation and KirkCare. The Webster-Kirkwood Times described the festival as both a community display and a fundraiser that supports access to the arts and aid for local families. Raising arts money in the lobby of the city's performing arts center keeps the donation and the cause in the same building.
The raffle trees go home on December 4. For a tree you choose yourself, the other opening on November 21 is at Kirkwood Farmers' Market. The Summit's Tree Lot and Gingerbread Shoppe opens that Saturday and stays open through the holiday season.
The Summit's events page lists fresh-cut Christmas trees up to 16 feet tall, plus wreaths and garlands. The heated Gingerbread Shoppe sells holiday treats, ornaments, hand-tied bows, gifts and décor. Designers will customize wreaths, garlands and centerpieces or sell ready-made ones. The lot's "Tree Guys" offer delivery, setup and post-holiday takedown, which helps if you have a tall ceiling and no truck.
That puts three holiday stops downtown on one Saturday: the train station in the morning, the KPAC lobby through the afternoon, and the market lot. The festival and the tree lot keep going after the Holiday Walk ends. The festival's run is fixed at two weeks, and the tree lot lasts as long as the season does.
When the Festival of Trees closes on Friday, December 4, the season moves to Webster Groves. On Saturday, December 5, the Old Orchard Holiday Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Gazebo Park, 8180 Big Bend Boulevard.
The same week, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis opens White Christmas. According to The Rep's production page, it starts with a first look on Wednesday, December 2, has weekend performances on December 5 at 4 and 8 p.m. and December 6 at 2 p.m., and closes Wednesday, December 23.
So the two weeks from November 21 through December 5 link together. The train arrival leads into the KPAC lobby, the lobby closes with the raffle, and the next morning the Old Orchard festival opens at Gazebo Park. On a weekend or a show day, the KPAC stage calendar tells you whether the Festival of Trees is open.
At Svoboda Shell, we follow Kirkwood's calendar the way we follow its streets, and a new Festival of Trees in the KPAC lobby is the kind of local first we like to share. If a raffle tree comes home with you on December 4, we'd love to see where it ends up. Start your home journey with Svoboda Shell.