The history behind the event...Barton Foundation Logo

History of the Festival
The Barton Foundation has a long history of hosting a Christmas event in South Lake Tahoe. What started in 1997 as the “Special Tradition” Christmas party at the Emerald Bay Trading Co. moved to the Heavenly Village in 2003 and in 2009 was reinvented as the Lake Tahoe Festival of Trees and Lights. The Festival is the kick off to the holiday season and offers the community and visitors a family-oriented event while at the same time raising much-needed funds for our area hospital.

2011
The Lake Tahoe Festival of Trees and Lights had a net income of more than $48,000 and The Gala raised an additional $27,900 through its “Fund a Dream” appeal at the auction. All proceeds benefitted the Barton Community Clinic expansion project which is projected to break ground in 2012 and open to the public Spring 2013. Festival attendance grew to over 3,600 over the 3-day/3-night event. Unfortunately, this was the last year that the Polar Express event was offered due to competition from a “real train” event in Carson City.

2010
The Lake Tahoe Festival of Trees and Lights had a net income of more than $28,000 and The Gala raised an additional $13,500 through its “Fund a Dream” appeal at the auction. All proceeds benefitted the Barton Community Clinic expansion project. The Festival saw just over 2,900 visitors and introduced a new event – the Teddy Bear Hospital where Barton physicians and nurses

2009
In our first year, the Festival saw nearly 2,500 visitors at our four ticketed events and during Public Viewing, featured more than 25 trees and other holiday décor items, 12 designer trees, three great raffles, non-stop entertainment, Santa and friends, a gorgeous gift shop, crafts and so much more! Best of all we raised more than $20,000 for the Barton Community Clinic.

We are so thankful to our community, designers, visitors, volunteers and committee for making this event such a wonderful success!