Suisun City celebrates success of Christmas festival

Suisun City celebrates success of Christmas festival
By Ian Thompson | Daily Republic | December 08, 2008

SUISUN CITY - The Christmas tree auction will return next year after organizers of the Christmas at the Waterfront celebrations this past weekend said the fundraising event was a success.

Also returning will be a larger version of the polymer ice rink, which drew skaters of all ages and abilities.

The auction of trees decorated by community groups raised $2,470, slightly less than what organizers had hoped, but Linda Feins is not complaining.

'All of them sold and I was pretty pleased,' said Feins, who helped organize the event.

With the auction being a new event, Feins and other organizers were satisfied with the money raised and expect to make more next year.

Nineteen community groups spent Saturday morning decorating the trees, and then the bidding began in a silent auction. All the proceeds went directly to the groups.

'It created a great holiday feeling with everyone giving their time,' Athenian Grill owner Shelly Kontogiannis said of the event.

Some people in the sizable crowd that viewed the trees decided just to donate money out of their pockets to the groups.

The Wednesday Club of Suisun's creation, decorated with red poinsettias and cardinals, was honored as the best tree. Second place went to the Relay for Life's tree, and the Fairfield Civic Theater's entry was third.

'Next year, we hope to get more trees, get more organizations involved and get a bigger tent (in which the trees were displayed),' Feins said.

Another big festival hit was the 30-foot by 30-foot ice rink, which was open from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.

'It went over extremely well,' organizer Anita Skinner said. 'We had more than 600 skaters during the three days and most of them were youngsters.'

Skinner plans to have a larger rink next year. The city is looking at whether it can afford to keep the rink open for a longer period of time by finding more local businesses or groups to be sponsors.

Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.