Festival of Trees

I attended the Festival of Trees this morning. This was being held in a building at the IL State Fair grounds, so I took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked. By the time I arrived at the Orr Building, I was definitely warm. I payed my $5 to gain admittance and they handed me a little program that looked like it mostly contained sponsorship information. The first thing to snag my attention was the gigantic tree in the middle of the room. Possibly 20 feet tall. It was being circled by the Candy Cane train, which honestly I figured would look a little bit more festive. However, judging by the line circling around the display area, the kids were pleased enough by it. There was some sort of live music going on. I didn't pay too much attention to it. I circled around the building looking at all the decorated trees and display rooms. Some that caught my attention were the Who Ville scene, a retro scene complete with a tree decorated with framed old-fashioned photos, and there was also a historic society tree decorated with old photos. The place smelled like popcorn, but I understand they had other food and gingerbread cookies there as well. I didn't sample any food and I didn't even see the gingerbread. However, I walked by a grouping of people that may have been crowding in for a taste of some gingerbread. The holiday market was really the reason I attended this event and it was disappointing. I was expecting holiday crafts more along the lines of things my aunts would have made. It turned out to be just a holiday store with ornaments, decorations, and some glassware. Nothing seemed special and once I was in there, I wasn't even sure if these gifts had been produced locally, which is what I was expecting. I left empty-handed after about 15 minutes at The Festival of Trees. I hope the admittance money goes towards something special, because it wasn't really worth $5. It was worth seeing once I guess, but this is not an event I would look forward to and return to each year.