Before she threw the switch that filled the Festival of Trees with light, tiny Annie Zarbock gripped a microphone and spoke from her heart.
"Thank you for my hospital that lets kids like me get better," the curly haired blonde said.Annie, at the tender age of 4, is a living symbol of why children's hospitals are important. At age 2, she was diagnosed with leukemia. She's now in remission, but she and her parents, Brad and Heidi Zarbock, have spent a lot of time at Primary Children's Medical Center, where she "had to get very bad pokes and I needed yucky medicine that made my hair fall out.
Tuesday night, hundreds of Utahns gathered for the opening night of the Festival of Trees, the annual holiday fund-raiser for Primary Children's. The festival continues through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Salt Palace. All the money raised at the event benefits the hospital.
It is an emotional amble through the aisles of trees, gingerbread houses, quilts, playhouses and other holiday displays.
Many of the trees are playful; Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Eyore cavort on some, while toy cars race up the ribbon road on another. A hardware company decorated a tree with tiny drills and saws, hammers and chainsaws.
A number of the trees are poignant tributes to loved ones who have died. A young couple, killed in a car accident. The rescue personnel who died when the AirMed helicopter went down last January while transporting an injured skier, who also died. The mother who loved to sew, the father who loved to fish. Grandfathers and grandmothers who are sorely missed. Teenagers and toddlers who were unable to conquer accident and disease. Lots of angels and ribbons and favorite toys adorned the tribute trees in a medley of memories and color.
For each tree crafted to honor a missing loved one, there was at least one joyful reminder that the hospital the festival benefits has restored health to children who were gravely ill.
Clark Jackson, who offered the opening prayer, is one such child. At 18 months he had a heart transplant and has spent much of his 7 years in the hospital. But the boy, son of Kelvin and Elaine Stiel Jackson, is doing great, and Monday he told God he is "thankful for this day, thankful for Christmas, thankful for the spirit of giving and thankful for Primary Children's Medical Center.
"Please bless the little children who are sick and the people who helped out," he said.
Besides the trees and other decorative displays, many of which are for sale, the Festival of Trees features a gift boutique offering everything from candy-filled Santas to Hershey-kiss angel ornaments, appliqued aprons and bunny-doll air fresheners. Nearby, volunteers hawk a wide variety of candies, specialty breads and other treats.
"We certainly are determined," said festival chairwoman Earlene Rex of the hundreds of volunteers who put the event together this year. "We work very hard, and we do change the world -- especially the world of sick children."
WNBA Starzz coach and Utah Jazz president Frank Layden had a very personal reason for supporting Primary Children's Medical Center. He said that three of his six grandchildren have been afflicted with a very serious disease, which he didn't name. The family had been told it would be unlikely that any of them could walk.
"They are not only walking but dancing and playing and living as normal a life" as possible, Layden said.
"The miracles are brought about by you," he told the people attending the festival.