2008, 2009 Festival of Trees, Clearwater, Florida Home Email
Our nonprofit organization, Save the Biltmore Preservationists, created a Belleview Biltmore Hotel holiday Christmas tree) see below for photo) for the 2008 Festival of Trees. The Biltmore tree won a second place red ribbon in the seven-foot tree division for handcrafted ornaments. The tree has 55 ornaments on it with photos depicting the historic journey of the Belleview Biltmore Hotel from 1896 when it was built to the 2012 proposed renovations by the new owner Legg Mason Real Estate Investors. UPARC Foundation, Inc. sponsors the show, and more than 100 beautifully decorated trees from local artists, businesses and community leaders were displayed along with craft items available for purchase. The Biltmore tree took us about 60 hours to complete including the unique, hand-crafted tree topper gazebo that illuminates three historic views of the hotel. Next to the tree are displays of other Biltmore memorabilia, antique photos, furniture, a history of the hotel and some vintage apparel from different eras, which add to the theme of the tree. The Festival of Trees is located at the Harborview Center, Cleveland Street, Clearwater, FL. The show ran from Wednesday, November 26 through Sunday, November 30, 2008. ,,
Tickets are $8 per person
The hours of the festival are:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Noon - 8:00 p.m.
Thursday November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving Day
2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday November 28, 2008
10:00 am - 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
10:00 am - 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Noon - 5:00 p.m.
2009 Festival of Trees, Clearwater, Florida
Our nonprofit organization, Save the Biltmore Preservationists, created a Belleview Biltmore Hotel holiday Christmas tree) see below for photos) for the 2009 Festival of Trees sponsored by UPARC Foundation, Inc. More than 100 beautifully decorated trees from local artists, businesses and community leaders were displayed at the Westfield/Countryside Mall, Countryside, Florida. Our seven foot Save the Biltmore Preservationist Christmas tree combines the old with the new. The Belleview Biltmore Hotel opened during the Victorian era in 1897 and a popular Christmas decoration at that time was the beautiful cone-shaped ornament, the cornucopia. Vintage homemade cornucopias were constructed from paper, paper scrap, cotton, scraps of cloth, yarn, tinsel, ribbon and filled with any assortment of candy, nuts or other holiday decorations. Some had crepe-paper closures, while others were left open at the top like our ornaments are.
See photos below with a description of our ornaments and tree after them.
Close-ups of four of our 50 hand-crafted ornaments.
14 karat gold Belleview Biltmore jewelry charm which we used for half of our ornaments.
We made assorted cornucopia ornaments, all a little different so no two are alike!
Our tree topper with enlargements of our gold charm
Our hand-crafted decorated tree with 50 cornucopia ornaments and charm topper. Santa Claus visits our tree!
For our 50 Save the Biltmore hand-crafted cornucopias, we added decorations of
pine cones, silver and gold leaves, miniature craft pearls, apples, pears, gold
and silver-coated nuts, foil, ribbon, flowers and other Christmas
decorations. Half of our ornaments are adorned in the center with a
representation of our nonprofit’s Belleview Biltmore 14 karat gold jewelry charm
to represent the “charm of the Belleview Biltmore.” The top of our tree has
larger gold printed images of our charm in a circular fashion, decorated to
match the cornucopias, and you can see the distinctive chimney stacks on the
hotel. It took us approximately 65 hours to make and decorate the cornucopias
and tree topper.
Each of our cornucopias were decorated a little differently so no two are alike! We carefully hand-crafted each ornament with a variety of festive decorations for your holiday pleasure so we hope you enjoy each unique ornament and our tree. Our Save the Biltmore Preservationist tree was located on the first floor by Sears near the Santa Claus station.
We hope you made the time to attend this wonderful Festival of Trees. The hours of the festival were Sunday, November 22, 2009 through Sunday November 29, 2009. Our Save the Biltmore Preservationist “A Victorian Christmas at the Biltmore” was displayed at the mall during these dates even if someone does buy it on the gala night.
The
public could attend the Premier Gala Night event for $75 per person Sunday night
November 22 at the mall to purchase a decorated tree. Patrons had the
opportunity to enjoy fine food, refreshments and entertainment as they searched
for that perfect holiday tree to purchase for home or office. Hours of
Sunday night’s gala event was from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. People entered at the entrance
near Toojay’s Restaurant. There was both live and silent
auctions. Delightful culinary food and tastings was provided by 16
caterers. A Swarovski crystal tree was at Macy’s sponsored by Bijoux, and
entertainment was provided throughout the mall. Ann Kelly from The New
Magic radio station 94.9 FM was also be there.
Our Save the Biltmore Preservationist tree also was for sale this year at the
show. We are offered a FREE $50 Save the Biltmore Copper Membership to anyone
who bought our tree. They needed to contact us via email if they won the
tree. Just To purchase tickets for the Premier
Gala Night people could contact the UPARC Foundation office at
727-797-8712. All proceeds from tree sales went to UPARC.
Starting Monday November 23 at the Westfield/Countryside Mall, the public could buy
raffle tickets to win a decorated tree that was not sold at Sunday’s gala
event. Raffle tickets are $5 each or five for $20, cash, check or credit card
accepted
Volunteers are always welcome and were needed for the Premier Gala Night as well as
during the tree show at the mall for the five “tree pods” of which there will be
a variety of beautifully decorated trees. The public could contact the UPARC Foundation office at 727-797-8712
for more information.
Vintage photo of the Belleview Biltmore Hotel