Wonderland of Trees

Photos from Friday's opening of the Wonderland of Trees for 2015 at the Holland Land Office Museum.

Photo by Nicole Tamfer; info submitted by Diane Bonarigo.

Jackson Primary School students and staff decorate Jackson's Community Caring Tree for The Wonderland of Trees at HLOM. Jackson students created ornaments in Art class of many different people and organizations that help the school each year. Some of the ornaments included, firemen, police officers, volunteer readers, military personnel, bus drivers, dentists, Cornell Cooperative Extension reps,  and JAHA.

The students were reminded through this project how much the Batavia Community cares about the children. (First picture) Brock Bigsby, Nolan Wright, Connor Malone Wesley Fisher, Carleigh Miller, Ryan Bigsby, Lauren Nelson,  and Reese Koukides, Mrs. Bonarigo, Mr. Sloan, Mr. Calandra, Mrs. Mundell, Mrs. Koukides, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Tamfer, Mrs. Bigsby, Mrs. Torrey.

The Wonderland of Trees opens tonight with a gala starting at 7 o'clock.

Yesterday, volunteers were busy preparing baskets for the auction Friday during the Holland Land Office Museum's 14th annual gala for the Wonderland of Trees.  The opening night festivities get under way at 7 o'clock. General Admission is $25 per person or $20 for Museum members. There will be live Christmas music, a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, basket raffles, catering by D&R Depot, and nearly 40 Christmas trees and displays -- thanks to the generosity of you, our community. Tickets can be purchased in advance in the Gift Shop or the night of the Gala.

Pictured are Kathy Jasinski, Mary Jo Eddy, Theresa Potter, Donna LaValle.

Press release:

The Holland Land Office Museum's 14th Annual Wonderland of Trees is just over one week away!

The Opening Gala will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20th. General admission is $25 per person or $20 for Museum members.

There will be live Christmas music, a 50/50 raffle, silent aucition, basket raffle, catering by D&R Depot, and nearly 40 Christmas trees and displays thanks to the generosity of you, our community. Tickets can be purchased in advance in our Gift Shop or the night of the Gala.

It is not too late to participate in the Wonderland of Trees as a sponsor! If you or your business are interested in decorating a tree or donating items for our basket raffle, please call the Museum at 585-343-4727.

Each year the Wonderland of Trees is viewed by hundreds of visitors at the Holland Land Office Museum and all proceeds from the event help fund the educational and historical programs and exhibits at the museum.

We look forward to seeing you on for our Opening Gala! If you are unable to attend, the Wonderland of Trees will be on display at the Holland Land Office Museum until Saturday, Jan. 2nd. Stay tuned for more Christmas events at the Holland Land Office!

There are more trees this year, and more people showed up Friday for the Wonderland of Trees gala at the Holland Land Office Museum, according to Board President Bob Turk.

The display of trees decorated by local groups and businesses runs through Jan. 3, with a children's gala set for noon to 4 p.m. on Dec. 17.

Ann Reid, representing the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, accepts a plaque to be placed on a new display of historical items and pictures donated to the Holland Land Office Museum commemorating the orchestra's long history in Genesee County.

The Holland Land Office Museum's ninth annual Wonderland of Trees opened Friday evening with a gala that included food (even a chocolate fountain), a silent auction, a chance to vote on your favorite tree and an opportunity to mingle with friends and neighbors.

About 40 local businesses and organizations participated in sponsoring trees this year, and the themes are quite creative.

The Christmas trees will be on display at HLOM through Jan. 8.

Thomas (age 7) and Alyssa (age 5) were at the Holland Land Office Museum today to build a snowman in the snowman contest sponsored by thebatavian.com.

They named their creation “Snowball the Snowman.”

The contest runs until Saturday, January 3rd at 3:00 p.m. Prize sponsors include Matty’s Pizzeria and Movies in Motion.

To enter the contest, come down to the Museum with your best snowman making materials and supplies and find a place to build it!

Call the museum at 343-4727 if you have any questions.

With all this snow, its snowman weather!

Come down to the Holland Land Office Museum until noon today and participate in a snowman building contest!

We have great prizes!

And  FREE coffee and hot chocolate! See Danielle is pouring it right now.

Call us at 343-4727 if you have any question.

Bring your friends, families or co-workers out tomorrow to the Holland Land Office Museum starting at 9:00 a.m. for a snowman building contest.

Between now and tomorrow morning we are expected to get about five inches of snow and a temperature in the mid-20’s. It will be perfect snowman building weather!

The team that builds the best snowman will win a gift certificate from Matty’s Pizza, plus we are still pulling together a few more items.

If you get too cold building your snowman, come on in to the Museum for free coffee and hot chocolate and see the Wonderland of Trees!

The event runs until noon. This is this first time we are trying this event and I hope everyone comes out and has a great time! It would be a good idea to bring a shovel and a bucket to help you build your masterpiece.

The event is sponsored by our good friends at Five-Star Bank, thebatavian.com and Matty’s Pizza.

www.wonderlandoftrees.com

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to announce it’s first ever snowman building contest. The event, sponsored by thebatavian.com, will take place on the east lawn of the Museum on Wednesday, December 31^st from 9:00 a.m. until noon.

If there isn’t any snow outside, we’ll build them inside!

Prizes will be awarded. And, we are planning to have a celebrity judge. We can't announce the name yet, because this person isn't confirmed.

Check out www.wonderlandoftrees.com or call the Museum at 343-4727 for more information.

Every few weeks we stop by the Holland Land Office Museum and chat with Pat Weissend, the museum's director, about some artifact or other interesting something going on at the museum. This time, there was really only one thing to talk about: the Wonderland of Trees. From now until January 3, folks can head down to the museum—check out the Web site for hours—to tour the Wonderland and help raise funds for the museum.

Now, before we get to the video, we would like to ask your help. We've been finding a few problems with the videos uploaded to blip.tv—which is otherwise flawless, with great quality and a large viewing screen. Unfortunately, the videos seem to skip on some computers. Here, we've loaded our video with Pat into both YouTube (top) and blip.tv (bottom). Which looks and runs better for you?

Groups are setting up for the annual Wonderland of Trees at the Holland Land Office Museum. The event starts Friday evening with the annual Kickoff Gala sponsored by Five Star Bank.

The Museum anticipates about 45 community groups, business, organizations and volunteers. There is still a couple of days left to get your trees up. If you or your business would like to decorate a tree, call the Museum at 343-4727. There isn’t a charge to put one up, but the group must supply the tree and all the trimmings.

On Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the annual Wonderland of Trees Kickoff Gala occurs.  Come and view the trees, vote on your favorites, enjoy music and visit with friends and neighbors as we ring in the holiday season. Tickets for the event are still available and cost $20 per ticket or $30 per couple. Reserve your ticket by calling the Museum at 343-4727.

For more information, visit www.wonderlandoftrees.com