The Hoover Presidential Foundation’s Festival of Trees has become a much-anticipated event in the Rummells Center during the annual A Christmas Past celebration in West Branch that runs December 6-7. Every year brings a new theme for the large display of Christmas trees that are enjoyed by both kids and the kid in all of us. The dazzling holiday display is planned, researched, and executed by Dave and Deb Johnson of Iowa City, parents of Ryan Johnson, Finance Manager of the Hoover Presidential Foundation, and Tina Sullivan of Coralville.
This year’s theme is Holiday Movie Magic. The idea came to Dave, Deb, and Tina over lunch after completing last year’s display. They had just put the finishing touches on trees depicting children’s Christmas books and felt that Christmas movies would be a good idea for their next project.
Their annual holiday effort started four years ago after Dave and Deb retired. Together, with Tina, they decide on individual trees and do research to decide how to best decorate them. This year, that effort involved watching Christmas movies well ahead of Christmas. The work starts months in advance. The creation process starts at home before bringing their work to the basement of the Rummells Center and finally to the main floor where visitors have made it an annual tradition.
Festival of Trees display creators Dave and Deb Johnson (Tina Sullivan not pictured)
When asked about what tree their favorite is, both Dave and Deb agreed on The Polar Express. Like all the trees, it has an amazing collage of ornaments and other thematic decorations that evoke the themes of the movie very well. What makes the effort even more impressive is that much of the ornamentation is handmade, as Christmas ornaments are expensive.
About the selection, Dave said, “We have trees for all ages. We have some for older people, like It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooge, and A Christmas Story. Some for 40-year-olds like Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. And some for kids like Disney.”
Members of the Hoover Presidential Foundation get an exclusive sneak peek at this year’s trees a day early. The event will take place on Thursday, December 5 from 5:00-7:00. Along with getting to see the display a day early, members will also be treated to an assortment of holiday pies and other refreshments. To register, members can follow this link, call 319-643-5327, or email info@hooverpf.org. If you would like to become a member and have access to this sneak peek and enjoy other benefits of membership, check out our membership page.
Festival of Trees will be open to the public Friday-Saturday, December 6-7 from 10:00 am-8:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.