SANDPOINT — The magic of Christmas has taken center stage in downtown Sandpoint thanks to the Community Resource EnVision Center's annual Festival of Trees celebration.

The celebration, which kicked off with the Charity & Cheer Window Walk immediately following the town Christmas tree on Nov. 29, continued with the Friends & Family celebration the next day. 

Fun continues today with the sold-out Festival of Trees Starlit Soiree Gala and the final day of the walk, which lets participants view trees benefiting nonprofits. (Passports can be picked up at 113 Main St. or Pivo Peaks Alehouse.)

The Friends & Family celebration has quickly become a community favorite setting the scene for a festive, small-town Christmas  full of music, bright  lights and charm.

"I just love our small town and we wanted to do something in our town to kick off the holidays … It's all so festive and a lot of fun for our family," said Amy Brockman, who attended the event with daughters Rain and Lake.

"I just wanted to start a tradition with my kids, something to kick off the holiday season after Thanksgiving," Brockman said. "We've never been before so this is a lot of fun."

The Christmas trees, treats and craft activities offered at the event made it the perfect start to the holiday season, the Sandpoint resident said as the family carefully pored over entries in the celebration's annual gingerbread contest.

One of the most popular parts of the Festival's Friends & Family event is the annual gingerbread house contest among the community's fourth graders. Now in its third year, the winner receives a pizza party and funds to donate to their favorite nonprofit.

This year's offerings included a tree house with a tire swing and rope ladder, a cow hanging outside a home and a recreation of the Priest Lake Library. Among past creations have been a rocket ship and Noah's ark.

Last year, the winning gingerbread house raised $11,000 for the community and earned a pizza party for the Valley View Elementary fourth graders behind the creation.

It's a chance to share with the youth about how what they might see as something small is actually something quite large and powerful. They talk about the math and the power of working together," Katie Begalke, CREC executive director, said.

"It's the story, right? It's all about those children and raising the next generation of givers and doers, and really just helping them understand the impact that you can make from a small act. That's what I love about it, just the ripple effect."

This year, Friends & Family participants were treated to a sneak peak at the 10 trees which will be featured at Saturday's Starlit Soiree Gala. A dozen other trees are scattered around the downtown in a partnership with local businesses. For $20, individuals can purchase a passport guiding them to the businesses and telling about each of the 12 nonprofits. Participants who complete their passport can turn it in for a chance to win prizes as they help local causes.

It's a chance to showcase the businesses which support CREC and the community's nonprofits. And, by moving the trees to the businesses, the nonprofits get to keep all of the proceeds.

"It's nicer to just let them have all of it and to just spill into the streets and kind of have that economic impact that we're trying to make in downtown Sandpoint," Begalke said.

Since taking over Festival of Trees three years ago, the resource center has added to the event, expanding Friends & Family to a daylong celebration, adding events such as the gingerbread contest, the Christmas Jubilee Concert and Charity & Cheer Window Walk. A shop also was added this year, with residents having the ability to purchase keepsake items such as tree skirts created by members of the Panhandle Piecemakers quilting guild.

"I think it just showcases how much support our community has through our nonprofit sector," Begalke said. "And that's what I love about it. It's like all of this is just kind of bubbling up to the surface, just the goodness of the nonprofit sector and how supported everyone is because of it."

Each of the events allows the organization to reach another part of the community, to share their mission of connecting those in need with those able to help.

This year's gala trees are truly special. Among them is a tree with eight Ross Hall prints hanging on the tree with more than $20,000 worth of gifts underneath. Each of the others are equally spectacular and the amount of thought and effort put into each is astounding, Begalke said.

Begalke remembers growing up in Sheboygan, Wis., and a Christmas festival where she played the handbells. There was something about that event, infused with holiday magic that she wanted to bring to the Sandpoint event after Kinderhaven officials asked if they wanted to take over the event.

"It was just this long day of chaos and magic," Begalke recalled of the Wisconsin event. "There was gingerbread houses and kids and music and trees and crafts and joy. I just knew I wanted to bring joy."

Begalke said it takes a team of people to put on the week of events, from Mack Diebel and The Hive staff who turn over the musical hotspot as host facilities to a team of decorators who transform the facility into a Christmas wonderland. There is the cocoa team that creates a cocoa experience with flavored whipped cream, sleighs filled with mini marshmallows and all kinds of add-ins. Another station is filled with a variety of Christmas-themed crafts.

CREC's mission is to connect, serve and support the entire community — matching those in need with those with the resources and services needed.

"We see that gamut and we want folks to know that we are here when that crisis hits, no matter what it is, no matter how big or small, there are resources out there," Begalke said. "It takes a creative mind to sometimes find them."

Begalke envision the resource center as becoming a one-stop shop for nonprofits, allowing them to become self-sufficient without having to worry about grants or fundraisers.

"The fact of the matter is that if there had been a huge winter storm and we weren't able to have our fundraiser or our gala, if we get a big old ice storm and we don't bring in our money, we have a very different picture to look at next year and that's a very vulnerable place to be in."

Beyond the funds raised, a huge benefit of the Festival of Trees event is the word it spreads about the nonprofit's services and mission.

"A lot of people don't know who the Community Resource and EnVision Center is or that we are available to them and so this is a 'friend-raiser," Begalke said. "It's a way for people to know who we are and what we do." 

In addition to spreading Christmas cheer and word of CREC's mission, Festival of Trees also gives organizers and volunteers a chance to celebrate the community — and the village that pulls together to put on the annual fundraiser, Begalke said.

"I really think you would be hard-pressed to find an organization that wasn't involved in the Festival of Trees, whether it's a donation under one of the gala trees, a store that opened their doors for one of our nonprofits, a community member whose child is performing on our stage or sipping on the cocoa," she added. "It's all just heartfelt and special."

The only snafu this year centered around the passport, and eventually involved the FBI.

Begalke, who has a background in graphic design, spent a lot of time on the passports, working hard to make them extra special in hopes that they will become treasured keepsakes that remind walk participants of the special memories created during the event.

However, the passports almost didn't happen.

"The print shop came back to me after I turned them and said 'we can't print this,'" Begalke said. "Apparently, it got flagged by the FBI because it looked too much like an actual passport."

Begalke was able to redesign the cover and the passports printed without any further troubles.

"The FBI is no longer sniffing down our necks," she joked before adding more seriously about the walk.

"It's a phenomenal event," she said. "… We really want people in there, visiting, seeing those trees and buying raffle tickets to support our nonprofits."

    Two youths watch a scene from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" while attending the Festival of Trees Friends & Family Day on Saturday, Nov. 29.
  

    Rain Brockman works to create a holiday craft as she attends the Festival of Trees Friends & Family Day activities on Saturday, Nov. 29.
  

    Amy Brockman checks out gingerbread house entries during the Festival of Trees Friends & Family Day on Nov. 29.
  

    A family gets their photograph taken with Santa at the Festival of Trees Friends & Family Day on Nov. 29.