A festive week with the Festival of Trees

Friday was the last day of Festival of Trees in Idaho Falls.

There were 79 trees on display. This 43-year-old tradition helps raise money for the Development Workshop, which is a nonprofit that provides job training for disabled people in the community. The nonprofit gets money from people and businesses who donate the trees and then from those who buy the trees. This year’s Festival of Trees had more than 600 volunteers.

“We really want to thank all the people that donated. This event takes about 600 volunteers to put on throughout the week and the number of donors is about the same from local businesses that donate things to our kitchen. It’s just such a wonderful holiday kick-off,” said Mike O’Bleness, the Development Workshop CEO.

The next step is delivering trees to the homes or businesses of the people who bought them.