WATERVILLE — The Hathaway Creative Center is becoming aglitter with holiday cheer as businesses, institutions and nonprofit organizations are setting up their tree-and-gift displays as part of the Sukeforth Family Festival of Trees benefit.

The second annual festival, which will open Friday to the public, raises money for Spectrum Generations’ Meals on Wheels program and Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area. It was a huge success last year, drawing thousands of people and garnering money in six figures for the charities, according to Gary Poulin, a member of the Festival of Trees committee.

“I felt as though it was phenomenal,” Poulin said Monday at the Hathaway center, where about 15 trees were being decorated. “It was something that the community wrapped their arms around and really supported.”

The tree festival is just one of several holiday events due to kick off this month, including the Parade of Lights at 6 p.m. Nov. 25, followed by the opening of Kringleville, Santa’s mini-village, and a fine-crafts pop-up store, both in The Center on Main Street downtown.

Also, Christopher Hastings Confections will open its commercial kitchen on Common Street to the public that day, to include a special holiday retail Chocolate Pop-Up Shop that will stay open through Dec. 23.

The confection business also will host an opening reception from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 26 in conjunction with Small Business Saturday.

The Sukeforth Festival of Trees will remain open after the parade on the 25th and stay open later than usual to accommodate those who attend both the parade and Kringleville, Poulin said.

The festival is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, then again from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 25 and 26, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 27. Adults will pay $2 to enter; children 12 and under are admitted free of charge. Tree and gift winners’ names will be drawn just after 4 p.m. Nov. 27.

Located on the first floor of the former shirt factory on Water Street, the event includes 75 trees decorated in themes such as camping, children’s toys and theater, with lots of gifts carrying those themes placed around the trees. Patrons may buy tickets for 50 cents each and place them in containers next to the trees. On the last day of the festival, names are drawn and winners take home not only the trees but also the gifts around them.

Santa Claus will greet children at the tree festival, which will include Santa’s Snack Shop in the former Button-Down Cafe, just down the hall from the festival space, which is about 7,000 square feet in size. The snack shop will serve American chop suey, beef stew in bread boule, white bean chicken chili, shrimp and roasted corn chowder, hot dogs, reindeer food, also known as trail mix, popcorn, brownies, cookies chips and hot and cold drinks.

A 50-50 drawing will be held at 5 p.m. both Sundays of the festival. Last year, one winner took home $4,000 in a drawing, according to Poulin.

“It’s a blast,” he said of the festival. “This year, I and a few others will be dressed as elves, courtesy of Are You Ready to Party?”

On Monday afternoon, Linanne Gaunce and her son, Daniel, 15, were decorating a tree and placing gifts around it for Central Maine Motors Auto Group. Linanne Gaunce, special events coordinator for the business, said the company decided to do something a little different this year and have a “Man Cave” theme, with a 7.5-foot-tall tree and gifts including a dartboard, a television, a popcorn machine, a gumball machine, a bar table and stools. The value of the tree and the gifts is about $1,200, she said.

“It’s fun. We like coming and watching the other stores put up their trees. The excitement of it is fun,” she said.

Along the north wall of the huge room, Tami Caswell, of Apollo Day Spa, was setting up several trees and gifts with a “Maine, Vacationland” theme, including a colorful cloth camper with stools placed next to a faux campfire and stuffed black Labrador dog. Gifts for people of all ages are part of the package and include a PlayStation, gift certificates to L.L. Bean and Apollo, sleds and backpacks. In addition to a faux evergreen tree decorated with outdoors-themed items, Apollo has two white birchlike trees, one with red cardinals perched on its branches. The other tree has a toy owl snuggled in its branches, though the tree had not been fully decorated by mid-afternoon.

Caswell, who said she was enjoying decorating, estimated the entire package value at more than $4,000.

“I figure go big or go home, right?” she said. “You want people to be happy and it’s for charity.”

Doug and Rita Sukeforth for many years hosted an annual pig roast in Solon with help from their daughter, Annette Sukeforth Marin, as a charity event; but last year, they decided to do something different and hosted a tree festival, which was creative, fun and popular, according to Poulin.

“It was a delight to see the smiles on the children’s faces walking through,” Poulin said Monday. “You’d just be amazed to see the kids and how excited they get with the expectation that they may win a tree. There’s a lot of ‘oohs and ahs’ when they walk through the door — and not just from the children. It made us all feel real good — warm and fuzzy — that we were doing something for the community. The Sukeforths are great in all they do.”

Many businesses, organizations and institutions are taking part, including Pool Tech; KeyBank; Hannaford; Mountain Wireless, which owns Mix 107.9 and Cruisin 93.5 radio; Thomas College; MaineGeneral and Inland hospitals; Waterville Florist; Harry J. Smith Co.; Day’s Jewelers, Fortin’s Home Furnishings and the Maine Children’s Home.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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