OGDENSBURG -- The Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Auxiliary will auction off at least 23 decorated Christmas trees and more than 100 holiday baskets during the 18th annual Festival of the Trees Nov. 29 through Dec. 3.

Raffles of more than $500 in lottery tickets and a handmade flannel quilt are also planned.

To participate, the first thing you must do is like the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Auxiliary Facebook Page. This way you won’t miss a thing! All festival posts will be seen on the Facebook page.

There will be no invite required. The event is open to everyone.

Your support is what makes this occasion the magical, sparkling community holiday tradition it is.

The Virtual Silent Auction – featuring more than 100 baskets filled with holiday goodies which begins Monday, Nov. 29.

A “BID HERE” album will be pinned to the top of the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Auxiliary Facebook page at some point on Monday.

To bid, comment on the picture of the item you wish to bid on and be sure to include bid amount and your email address.

Subsequent bids must be in whole dollar increments.

Bidding ends at 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2. Once the auction is over, winning bidders will be acknowledged in the comments section of the item they won.

The winners will also be contacted by email with information regarding payment and pick up times.

A Facebook Live Show featuring craft and Hollyberry sale items will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29.

Visit the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Auxiliary Facebook page to place your bids.

On Thursday, Dec. 2 and Friday, Dec. 3, the CHMC Auxiliary will hold a live auction of our decorated trees.

Half the trees will be auctioned on Thursday and the other half on Friday. Pick up information will be announced during the events.

Bidding begins promptly at 7 p.m. both nights. CHMC Auxiliary representatives will go live before 7 p.m. to do a walk-through of the items up for bid that evening.

No invitation will be required to participate. There will be two minutes of bidding for each tree.

To bid, watch the comments section and type the word “TREE” and the number of the tree you are interested in along with your bid amount. The highest bids will be “liked” as they come in so bidders will know the highest accepted bid.

Intermittent Facebook Live videos all that week will promote items in both the silent and the live auctions.

Winners will be invoiced with payment instructions and pick up instructions.

There will also be raffles to benefit the Festival of the Trees.

The winning ticket for a Lottery Board with a value of $500, donated by America 1 Realty/Rhonda Roethel, will be drawn Dec. 3. Tickets are $5 each or 5/$20.

Drawing for a Handmade Quilt, “Gnome for the Holidays,” donated by and quilted by Diane Dailey, will be held on Saturday, Dec. 4. Tickets are $2 each or 3/$5.00.

As of last week, the auxiliary already had 23 sponsored trees, all four feet tall, plus over 100 silent auction items have been donated to the Festival.

All monies raised will help fulfill our Auxiliary pledge to CHMC.

No matter where you live, you can participate online. Payment for all of our events can be made with cash, check or credit card.

Silent auction donations, tree sponsorships and business sponsorships are still being accepted for the 18th Annual Festival of the Trees.

Deadline to drop off a basket is Saturday, Nov. 27 and the deadline for tree sponsors is Tuesday, Nov. 30.

The public is asked to not wrap their donations for the silent auction to make it easier to photograph better for the virtual auction.

If you have any questions regarding the festival, please contact Ramona Kennedy at 315-393-1559 or email her at rkennedy@chmed.org.