Submitted Photo Jill Fuller, of Garrison, is shown by one of several trees she has decorated for the Dickens Village Festival. Most of the Christmas trees she’s decorated have a special theme. The annual festival opens today in Garrison.

GARRISON – Visitors to Dickens Village Festival will be able to see Christmas trees decorated in unique ways by Jill Fuller of Garrison. The decorated Christmas trees are in various locations.

Fuller, a retired hospital CEO, started decorating trees for the annual festival after retiring in 2018.

“That fall my neighbor asked me to do one for the Lamplighters Club,” she said. After that, she was recruited and did more trees for the annual festival.

“She does a beautiful job,” said Bree Diffely, director of the Garrison Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Most of the trees that Fuller decorated this year for the festival are full-sized artificial Christmas trees.

One of the exceptions is a tablescape called “Afternoon Tea with Grandma.” Fuller said she just became a grandma this year so used “grandma” as part of the theme. The theme has lots of pink, lots of old hats, et cetera, she said.

“We really want to keep people thinking about the tea party. We aren’t going to have the afternoon tea this year (during the festival) but we want to bring it back,” she said.

She said the tea party is set up at The Cubby Hole, a local meeting and gathering place on Main Street in Garrison.

She also has two other trees displayed at The Cubby Hole. She said a main tree has a rustic Christmas theme, with elements including an antique pair of skates from her neighbor’s attic.

“We like to evoke that feeling of coming home because a lot of people come home especially at Thanksgiving weekend in Garrison and they come to the festival,” Fuller said.

She said the local quilt guild is displaying quilts at The Cubby Hole. There is a tree called “Let It Sew” done in its honor with ornaments made of sewing notions.

In the main lobby of the City Auditorium is a “Joy to the World” tree that Fuller decorated. The tree has some modern farmhouse elements, three antique typewriters at the base of the tree and is topped off with a huge group of black-and-white bells cascading down the tree. Some miniature houses are placed in the tree.

“The typewriters have sheets of paper that spell ‘JOY’ coming out of the typewriters,” Fuller said.

A tree in the festival’s Piccadilly Square area in the auditorium is decorated in basic red and green. Piccadilly Square is an area with crafters and more.

In the Kota Theater, where the festival’s entertainment events are held, Fuller did a candy cane and popcorn-themed tree for the main lobby. Another tree in the theater has a Victorian theme with old-fashioned candles that would be seen on Victorian trees.

Fuller said the Lamplighter, the senior center, always has a festival of trees during Dickens Village Festival. There she decorated a tree in platinums, silvers, golds and whites, sponsored by the Dickens Committee and called “Downtown Dickens.” Another tree there that she designed is sponsored by the Lamplighters Club and is called “Grandmother’s Kitchen.”

She also helped with other trees displayed at the senior center including a tree with tumbleweeds, feathers and other items representing habitat that her neighbor did for Pheasants Forever.

Fuller said she usually starts working on the trees in later September and October after winding down from summer activities at the lake.

“It’s great fun. I love it,” Fuller said.

Dickens Village Festival is today and again Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 10-11.