RSS Feed
|
| ||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Festival of Wreaths: Seeing more than green "We've had everything from someone quilting a wreath, to majolica, to toys, to fishing lures, to a mosaic with broken teacups, to a silk wreath and a live wreath - even a cranberry wreath," said NHA Special Events Manager Stacey Stuart. "It's amazing, the creative thoughts that go into the wreaths," she said. "People get completely out of the box." Or out of the circle, as the case may be. Many winning bidders keep their wreaths up year-round, according to Stuart. This year's event will be held at the Peter Foulger Museum on Broad Street. Unlike the trees from the Festival of Trees, the wreaths from the Festival of Wreaths are sold via an auction to benefit the NHA's educational programs. The wreaths generally sell for $50 - $900. The bidding closes at 2 p.m. on Sunday, with top bidders announced 30 minutes later. Any winners not present will be able to pick up their wreaths anytime before 5 p.m. Ginny Kinney, who did an unorthodox wreath last year made of broken cups and saucers and shards of pottery, is creating a nature-inspired wreath this year made of pinecones and shells from local beaches. For the fourth year, Sandy Taylor is creating the wreath to be raffled off to Festival attendees who buy raffle tickets. "Part of the purpose for doing a wreath for the raffle was that a lot of the people from Nantucket had said, 'These wreaths are wonderful, and it's great to go to the silent auction, but we can't afford the prices,'" Taylor said. "So we feel this gives them a chance for a wonderful wreath by having to pay only for the raffle tickets. This is for the town. And every year that somebody's won it, it's been somebody that has a home here." Taylor said she is particularly enamored of her wreath this year, which is made of nutcrackers - something Taylor collects for her own home - as well as nuts and fresh greens. "I'm Norwegian, so I 'yust go nuts' for Christmas,'" said Taylor, who believes that a wreath is not just a teaser to the Christmas tree, but a symbol with its own integrity. "I love the fact that it's a Christian symbol - a circle unending," she said. "No beginning, no end, forever. Like a wedding ring." Taylor's "Yust Go Nuts" wreath took about 20 hours of labor to finish - that's excluding almost a year of creative brainstorming. (She's been planning for this year's raffle wreath since last Christmas.) The nutcrackers are also nestled in sticks Taylor gleaned from the Moors. "Everything in this wreath is from Nantucket," she said.
I FESTIVAL OFWREATHS |
for larger version      |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
