ESTEVAN - What's been a green oasis in downtown Estevan during the summer, has now turned into a real Christmas hub, where residents can come for a retreat or great festive pictures.
The Garden on Fourth was recently decorated and now is ready for the holidays.
The new initiative started with a couple of Christmas trees and ended up seeing well over a dozen beautifully decorated artificial and real trees, turning the area into a real winter wonderland.
Gale Tytlandsvik said she saw a skinny Christmas tree at the local second-hand store and decided she wanted to do something with it for the garden. She also had her own tree that she was willing to use for the new project.
With those trees in her hands, she decided to put a call out for some more trees and some decorations. And the response has been incredible, Tytlandsvik said. Almost everything that's up in the garden now was donated. She did buy some balls, but the money for those was also donated.
"I put one post on Facebook. One post! And said I'm looking for balls. And honest to goodness, it was insane. I got an incredible amount of ornaments. And then the lady in Walmart one day gave me money. So that's when I bought those (other balls)," Tytlandsvik said. "Donations came from tonnes of people, so I would just like to thank everyone who donated."
Not only did she receive enough balls and toys to decorate 10 trees and fill 10 planters, but she also had enough to decorate all evergreens and trees growing in the garden and to add highlights to other objects.
With help from Brenda Blackburn, Julie-Anne Wallewein, Wendy Dubuc and Shelia Guenther, Tytlandsvik decorated 10 artificial trees. Her husband Kelly helped her put some rebar into planters and tie the gorgeous trees to ensure they make it through any kind of wind Estevan may experience over the holiday season. The decorations were also wired to the trees so that they stay on there.
Last Friday, a crew consisting of the Tytlandsviks, Lindsay and Wendy Clark, and Brent and Brenda Blackburn put the trees and decorations up for the city and its residents to enjoy.
Tytlandsvik said the idea to have monocoloured trees came along the lines.
"They said, ‘Well, how are you going to do it?’ I said, ‘I can see this tone-on-tone thing.’ And they're like, ‘No, no.’ They didn't like my tone-on-tone idea. Everybody thought that I was crazy. I really love the tone on tone. I think it turned out awesome," Tytlandsvik said.
Some of the trees she had to spray paint to have a diversity of colours. Decorated with similar-coloured balls, monochrome trees made the garden stand out and look even more attractive and cozy than before.
"My goal is to make Estevan beautiful. I could spend all my time decorating my house, but this looks like more fun," Tytlandsvik said with a laugh. "I just like to make things pretty."
Candy canes on the trees are up for grabs. The trees will be in place until after the Orthodox (Ukrainian) Christmas in January.
"A big thanks to all my helpers and donors! Stop by the garden to get into the Christmas spirit. And grab a candy cane from one of the trees to enjoy while you're there," Tytlandsvik said in her post on Facebook.
Any decorations that didn't make it to the trees in the garden, like some of the glass balls that could break in the wind, were donated to Salvation Army.
