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Utah Shakespeare Festival

Local Christmastime charities tend to come and go. Not Festival of Trees.

This week, when 535 fully decorated Christmas trees go up for auction at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, it will mark the festival’s 54th consecutive year. And every year seems to get grander and bigger. No one will be surprised if/when the 2024 event, which runs Wednesday through Saturday, exceeds the $3.4 million raised last year, all of it going to the festival’s one and only charity: Primary Children’s Hospital.

The festival’s history dates back to 1970, when a Primary Children’s worker went to Hawaii and saw a Christmas tree fundraiser there. She brought the idea back to Utah, and the first Festival of Trees was held in 1970 at the armory on Sunnyside Avenue. It raised $36,000.

Read more about the history of the Festival of Trees and how it became such an important part of the holiday season in Utah.

More in Utah

A car is burning. A man is trapped inside. His only hope rests with strangers

Ethan Bauer writes:

First there is fire, and only fire. Everything else stands still.

The small red SUV, the man inside, the road around it — all freeze in place, save the orange glow and the whipping flames.

Then come the people. They come running. Less quickly than you might expect, as if they’re pondering what can be done as they get closer. They tap the windows. They pull on the doors. The driver is stuck. The fire grows. They pull harder. The doors won’t budge. More people come now. Seven, eight. Nine or 10 if you count those in the background. Black and white. Men and women. Young and old — they pull together. They pull harder still. They make no progress. The fire grows.

The flames are only getting bigger. Hotter. Nastier. The entire car could explode any second. Little pieces of it are already detonating one by one. There are so many reasons not to run back. Another belch of flames only confirms it. They don’t know this man. They don’t have to help this man. Yet they do. Again and again and again.

Fragments of metal and plastic and glass spray their ankles and feet, and the bottom of the car burns like hot coals. They bear it. They stand in the middle of it. They finally pull the man out, and four of them scurry away with his body. They carry him out of view, while the car burns and burns, leaving only steel bones.

Read more about the people willing to risk their lives to save a stranger from a fiery car.

FROM OUR SPONSOR UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

SAVE ON GREAT THEATRE WITH USF CYBER MONDAY SALE

Save big on live theatre with Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Cyber Monday sale on December 2. Get $10 off each ticket to the 2025 season. Best seats at a discount make incredible holiday gifts. 2025’s season includes Macbeth, Steel Magnolias, The Importance of Being Earnest, and more. Visit bard.org/cyber.

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