For 40 years and counting, the Festival of Trees held at the Western Development Museum has been a cherished annual tradition in Saskatoon. Usually held during the last week of November, this fundraiser for Saskatoon City Hospital brings out the kid in all of us.

The main part of the festival is, of course, the trees. In Boomtown (the street in the museum made to look like an early 20th century Saskatchewan town), Christmas trees line the street. These trees are either sponsored by companies or organizations who hire professionals to decorate them or they are done by local artists and art guilds. The trees are for sale but they tend to sell out quickly. Christmas is often the theme (obviously!) with many covered in decorations from Christmas stories and movies. The year, I saw 3 Grinch trees! And even and Elf tree! There were plenty of non-holiday themed trees as well such as a Taylor Swift tree, a couple of car themed trees, and a Star Wars tree. (Yes, I know there was a holiday special and we often have movie marathons over the holiday season but I think most of us don’t think of Star Wars as being Christmas movies.)

Further into the museum you find the gingerbread houses and no, there were no free samples. These houses are always impressive and this year was no different. Some were basic homes and shops beautifully decorated with icing sugar and candy while others depicted actual buildings or locations. All of them made me both hungry and slightly ashamed – I really need to up my gingerbread house game!

Being that this is a photography blog, I’m sad to report that my experience shooting the event was not so great. First, I forgot/didn’t think to bring my wide angle lens which really would have been handy for those wide shots of the event. I also really struggled with my settings. Of course, I was trying to find the lowest ISO I could get away with but in a low light event, you can’t always do that without sacrificing quality, especially focus. I tried using the on camera flash but that ended up being too much. Speaking of focus, my personal focus was also off as this tends to be a busy event with a lot of children even during the slower time that I went. But, every time I pull out my camera is just another chance to learn and get better so that’s how I’m looking at this!

One last note, the Festival of Trees started in 1986 which means that I would’ve been in grade 2 at its inception. I’m not sure when my first visit was but I definitely remember field trips to the event and I even remember performing at the noon hour concerts. I haven’t been to the Festival of Trees every year but it’s neat for me to think that in some very small way, I was a part of the festival’s early success.