Daly Mansion takes over Festival of Trees

by John Dowd, Editor

The Daly Mansion, and the Bitterroot Health Foundation, are excited to announce the transfer of a beloved community event. The Daly Mansion will take on the Festival of Trees for 2025, and according to the Bitterroot Health Foundation administration, this is the way things were meant to be. 

According to David Evans, Bitterroot Health Foundation president, “We always envisioned the Festival of Trees going to the Mansion.” Evans said the foundation has done the event for the last three years, and they have enjoyed it. However, because of unforeseen turnover within the administration of the foundation, they knew they would end up with a lack of leadership to help coordinate the event this year.

“A lot of people underestimate how much work goes into these events,” said Evans. 

With retirement, pregnancy and other factors, the foundation knew taking on a new person for the role would mean throwing a lot onto the shoulders of new leaders, and the event is so loved by the valley that they didn’t want anything to go wrong. 

“The community really loves this event, so we wanted it to go somewhere it would continue to thrive,” said Evans.

Because of this, they reached out to the Daly Mansion to see if they could tackle it. Courtney Hartelius, Daly Mansion executive director, said it was a decision that had to be made between all the staff, board and volunteers to make sure it was something they could handle, and wanted to do. Unanimously, they all excitedly accepted the challenge.  

“We are grateful Bitterroot Health gave us this opportunity,” said Hartelius, and added that there is just “something special about Christmas and something special about the Mansion,” and putting those two things together was a magical combination. Additionally, Hartelius described how there was something special about having “these trees inside a home,” for the Christmas season.

“We are trying to be more engaged with the community and have them engage more with us,” and this is a perfect opportunity, said Hartelius.

This will be the fourth year the valley has seen the event, and the Bitterroot Health Foundation said they will still be involved with the event, along with the hospital. According to Evans, they will have at least five trees sponsored in the festival, including one for hospice, one for oncology and more. The foundation has also passed on all the signage and decor from previous festivals.

The event is for nonprofits and is meant to benefit all the nonprofits that participate. Each one enters a tree, decorated often to a theme, and the trees are displayed and judged by a five-member community panel. The judges then choose which ones will go out for silent auction and which ones will go out for live auction.

The money the trees raise goes back into the nonprofit that made them minus a small administrative fee. Evans said some of these trees have gone for thousands of dollars at auction.

Any nonprofit in the valley can participate, and according to Hartelius, there are over 400 nonprofits in the Bitterroot. To prevent nonprofits from creating an entire forest, the event has to limit how many trees can be entered. Evans said last year they had 28 trees, and in the past tried not to go past 30. The Daly Mansion has decided to limit the number of trees to 25 entries this year, and there are still open spots for groups interested in creating and entering a tree. The trees will be displayed inside the Mansion, and the community is encouraged to come and visit the trees. 

According to Hartelius and Evans, some of the trees are incredible and some groups go all out. Many even include ‘care packages’ with prizes included with the tree for when it goes to auction.

“It’s really fun to see the creativity these nonprofits put into these trees,” said Hartelius. 

Evans spoke about the inception of the event, reciting the foundation’s mission statement, “Create a community of giving.” He explained that there are so many groups working to do good in the valley, it can be hard to get everyone to visit every event.

“If everyone had their own event [this time of year], you wouldn’t know where to go,” said Evans. This event was meant to bring them all under one roof and combine all the time and resources they would all use to help them achieve their goals.

For Evans, this event is really meant to “emphasize that we all need to work together in this valley to make it this valley.”

The Festival of Trees will take place at the Daly Mansion on November 29, 30 and December 1. The Mansion will have several surrounding events going on at the Mansion during the festival, including Christmas parties, crafts, Santa, cookies and free family activities.

Hartelius also wanted to highlight the Mansion’s Holly Jolly event, which is their annual artisan craft show. They will have handmade crafts and vendors on all three floors of the Mansion. There will be 35 vendors this year, and nearly all are local. Hartelius mentioned that this has been going for 10 years. The Holly Jolly event will take place November 14, and 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The entrance fee will be $5 per person and children 12 and under enter for free. 

Looking forward to the Festival of Trees, Hartelius said what she loves about the Mansion most is that “history doesn’t stop,” and, “the Mansion is part of so many people’s personal histories.” For her, this event will just solidify that history in so many more lives.

For those wishing to participate in the Festival of Trees, interested parties can contact the Daly Mansion at (406) 363-6004. The cut-off for entries is Monday, November 17. It is $100 to register a tree, and parties can register online or call the Mansion.