Pictured is last year’s Seattle Seahawks-themed wreath from the Battle Ground Rotary Club’s annual Festival of Wreaths. The theme will make a return this year along with newer themes for the raffle that kicks off next week.
A more traditional holiday-themed wreath was part of last year’s Battle Ground Rotary Club Festival of Wreaths.
Bucking the usual colors, some wreaths like this one from last year’s Battle Ground Rotary Club Festival of Wreaths get creative. This year one wreath will feature antlers, a popular design choice this year.
The Battle Ground Rotary’s Festival of Trees will return to the Battle Ground Community Center with popular mainstays and this year’s hot trends as highlights for the 20 decorations up for raffle.
Next week the chance to buy tickets to win one (or more) of 20 wreaths will start for the third time, culminating in the raffle during the city’s annual tree-lighting ceremony.
Marilyn Moeser, owner of Main Street Floral Company and Battle Ground Rotary executive secretary, described the event as a “scaled-back form of the Festival of Trees,” referencing an event hosted annually by the Vancouver Rotary Foundation.
During next week the wreaths, sponsored by local businesses and created through the efforts of Rotarians, will be on display at the community center. For $5 would-be winners can buy a ticket to enter into raffles for “amazing wreaths; one-of-a-kind wreaths that you won’t find anywhere else,” as Moeser described it.
Moeser is in charge of the general concepts behind the unique themes of each of the wreaths. She likened the process to crafting a recipe, picking the right ingredients for each wreath to fit the theme. Moeser valued the wreaths at averaging $125 to $150, which for lucky raffle winners would only cost a $5 investment, she said.
Regarding themes, Moeser keeps notes from past years in order to revisit the themes generating the most buzz and tickets. Two themes returning are the Seattle Seahawks and Washington State University alumni, which had proved popular previously.
Moeser also said that given her profession she has a pulse on what would make a good wreath for each year.
“We know earlier on in the year what is popular for that coming holiday season and what isn’t,” Moeser said. “We kind of know in the back of our minds as early as July the kinds of themes that might work well for the wreaths simply based on what we see from our vendors.”
As an example, Moeser mentioned a wreath titled “The Woods” featuring antlers, something that has been a hot style this year.
As to how it all comes together, the businesses sponsor the wreaths while Moeser gets to work on the concepts. A work party the Sunday before the week of display brings in fellow Rotarians and occasionally friends and family as guests who put together the wreaths under the direction of Moeser.
Though Moeser employs her expertise in floral design toward wreath concepts, she said a large part of the coordination comes from the Festival of Wreaths committee set up this year. Committee Chair Carol Hart has done “an amazing job” this year, Moeser said.
Although businesses have the opportunity to select a theme, for this year it’s all randomized, Moeser said. She reasons that after two previous years the reputation of the quality of the wreaths had made sponsors confident that whatever they get will be great.
“It doesn’t matter which wreath they get put on, they are all going to be as equally as beautiful as the other ones,” Moeser said.
Last year the weather didn’t cooperate with the event, getting it off to a slow start, but Moeser said ultimately the festival was pulled off. With the hope that this year will be better the Rotary club has a goal to raise $5,000, which she said she wouldn’t be surprised if that was exceeded.
This year’s fundraising focus is on fire recovery, specifically the devastating rash of fires in California. The money is going to help the efforts of Rotary District 5130, a district made up of Rotarians from four California counties hit the hardest by the blazes.
As to why Rotary puts on the event, Moeser said it helps to educate the community of Rotary’s service-minded nature.
“We’re community based, so it makes perfect sense to have a community-related festival that’s a fundraiser, too,” she said, adding that although in this case the fundraising is for an interstate issue, causes can be big and small, localized to Battle Ground or international pushes.
