Glitter, tinsel, ribbon and Elvis… the perfect trimmings for a Christmas tree!
For the past few weeks I have been working with my Spectrum colleagues to create ornaments and coordinate logistics to decorate a Christmas tree for Kennedy Krieger Institute’s 20th Annual Festival of Trees. The Festival, being held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Baltimore, Md., on November 27, 28 and 29, is the largest holiday event of its kind on the entire East Coast. This year Spectrum is one of the Festival’s corporate sponsors and to show appreciation of our sponsorship, Spectrum had the opportunity to decorate a seven-foot Christmas tree that will be featured in the Festival.
After deciding that our theme should be 50′s Rock and Roll, I set out on a mission to find old 45 records, record album covers, guitar 
decorations, jukeboxes and of course an Elvis tree topper. While I was able to find some of the decorations for the tree at vintage and party stores, most of the ornaments made for Spectrum’s tree were created by our interns and staff. As it is tradition in my family to hand-make ornaments, I was excited to see the man-power and creativity used to bring 50′s Rock and Roll to life. We had quite an ornament-making team!
This past weekend, I headed up to the Fairgrounds to attend the Festival of Trees pre-event “Decorating of the Trees” in which I enlisted the help of my mom to decorate Spectrum’s tree. After putting on all of the lights, we decided we should go ahead and secure the Elvis decorated tree topper before hanging the rest of the ornaments. Fellow tree decorators began to gather and comment on the theme of our tree and reminisced of listening to 45 records in the “good ol’ days.”
Spectrum’s tree turned out great! It was a fun activity to do on a Sunday afternoon, especially knowing that our efforts are supporting the Festival’s core mission: to raise funds for the children with disabilities served by the Kennedy Krieger Institute and to continue to increase awareness of the Institute by creating a spectacular event for the greater Baltimore community to enjoy. For more information on Kennedy Krieger’s Festival of Trees, please click here.
Tags: baltimore, festival of trees, holidays, kennedy krieger, maryland, thanksgiving
Nice work!
I’m impressed!!! Very professional! I know a little girl who’s at KKI now rehabbing after a terrible car accident in which her father died. Sara Wheatley is 9 and suffered a broken neck and some brain injuries, but is expected to make a full or almost full recovery. She gets out of her halo Dec. 7 and may be able to come home for Christmas – I hope she gets a chance to see them all on display!!
A job well done!!