BURKE AREA NEWS
What's Going On In the Burke Area
Burke Chamber Christmas Tree Contest Winners
announced December 15, 2020
East Burke, VT - A brilliant display of Christmas Trees is lighting up the green at the Burke Mountain Club in East Burke Village! It’s all part of the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce annual holiday contest. Ruggles Christmas Trees provided the trees which were each ‘adopted’ and decorated by a local school, business or family.
The judges have spoken, and they are either not so good at this judging thing or everyone did too good of a job decorating their tree. Most likely it is the latter. There were supposed to be only 5 winners, but it just couldn't be done. Not only was there a tie in one category, but the judges also invented a whole new category for one particular tree making for 7 winners this year! Oh well, in a year full of rules, one may as well break them when one can. Each winner will get $100 for a charity of their choice.
And the winners are....
- Best Lights - East Burke School with twinkling lights of gold (charity: NEK Youth Services)
- Best Decorations - a TIE between Kingdom Campground with a camper tree-topper and s'mores fixins’ on the branches (charity: H.O.P.E.) and Field, Farm and Forest with hand-made ornaments from nature made by the students aka Kinglets (charity: NEK Audubon Society)
- Best Business Tree - Kingdom Trails with our first ever interactive tree/photo booth (charity: East Burke Fire Department)
- Best School Tree - Burke Town School with hand-made ornaments and messages of peace & love from the students (charity: TBD)
- Best Overall Tree - Tim Scott Real Estate with a spectacular tree featuring a holiday sweater theme with ornaments made by students at the Peacham Elementary School (charity: Peacham School Ski Program)
- And in the just created category of Best Tribute Tree - The Family of Neal & Carolyn Weed with a tree to honor their memory and dedicated to Kermit Weed featuring stockings with family names on them, blue lights, farm and camping themed ornaments and more. As granddaughter and niece, Chris Emmons expressed, "It was a way for us to come together as a family, even though we are apart, to honor our roots and remember where we came from." The family chose Hand to Hand as their charity.
The trees will be lighting up the village through at least the end of January if not longer. Said Chamber Administrator, Laura Malieswski, “Usually, the trees come down in mid-January, but the Chamber Board and the Burke Mountain Club Board of Directors all agreed that they should stay up longer because they just make people happy and we all need as much of that as possible these days.” Folks are encouraged to stop and take a walk on the green to get a good look at each unique tree. Photos of all the trees are also on the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce facebook page.
