A holiday tradition

By Jeff Wilford

Sunday, November 9, 2003 12:56 AM CST

RACINE - It's a Christmas thing.

With seven weeks to go before Christmas, Tom Kutis went shopping for Christmas trees with his wife and mother.

Kutis, 26, wasn't looking to buy a tree. With five Christmas trees already in his house, he and wife, Leti, 22, don't need any more.

Instead, they wandered around the trees set up at Festival of Hall for the Festival of Trees, putting in raffle tickets to win various trees or just looking for decorating ideas.

Kutis' mom, Penny Kutis, 60, said that coming to the Festival of Trees is a tradition for them. "My son's usually the one who initiates the trip," she said.

When it comes to tree decorations, there's no shortage of ideas on display.

Big trees, small trees. Trees decorated with pictures, toys or more traditional ornaments.

A fanciful person might prefer something like the tree "Cinderella - Once Upon a Dream." It's decorated with papier mach� fairy tale figures, covered in glitter.

A movie buff might gravitate to the "Hollywood Christmas" tree, with its snapshots from Christmas-themed movies.

Football fans might dream of "Once Upon a Packer Christmas," a tree decorated with - what else? - little Packer football players, green and gold ornaments and tiny footballs.

Traditionalists might feel more comfortable with "Once Upon an Old-Fashioned Christmas," a very tall tree decorated with candles, gold tinsel and gold and silver ornaments and ribbon.

Let's not forget the tree, "King Kong vs. Godzilla," bedecked with miniature green Godzillas and blue King Kongs.

While the Festival of Trees offers people an early infusion of Christmas cheer, it also offers Downtown businesses a chance to sell goods, or just get their names out, to a wider audience. More than a few businesses had displays set up and cash registers hooked up Saturday.

For Dennis Galatowitsch, owner of Twister Emporium, it's his first Festival of Trees. Selling more product during the festival is a short-term benefit for his business, which opened Downtown in September. More importantly, the Festival of Trees is giving him exposure to people who otherwise might not walk into his store.

For Therese Fellner and Paul Fiegel, the husband-wife co-owners of JoJo's Toys, the festival is a chance to do market research. Although they don't yet have a storefront, they are looking at sites on Main Street and Sixth Street and are planning a spring opening, Fellner, 38, said.

Named for their 10-month-old son, Joseph, who spent Saturday strapped to Fellner's back, JoJo's Toys will be a niche store that deals in classic and specialty toys unavailable at the major retailers.

Mostly, however, the Festival of Trees is about Christmas.

Heidi Kemper, 32, was at the festival with her daughter, Kelsey, 19 months old. Kemper said she has come to the festival the last three years. "Just a good start off to the holiday season."

This time, they came mostly to watch Kemper's 6-year-old niece dance on stage, with the Masters of Movement. She did not sign up for any of the Christmas tree raffles.

"They're beautiful," Kemper said, "but we like the real tree."

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