Creativity and the spirit of the season are flowing throughout the community as the second annual holiday tree decorating contest gets underway at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport (GRB) in Northeastern Wisconsin. Individual artists and non-profit organizations submit sketches, photos or other descriptions to convey their design concepts, and the winners decorate a tree at the airport to help deck the halls for holiday travelers.
During the contest’s inaugural year, the GRB Art Program intended to declare a single winner, but contest judges were so impressed by the quality and volume of entries that two second-place designs were selected as well. “The submissions were well thought out, creative and truly connected with our area’s culture and history,” said Airport Director Marty Piette, A.A.E.
Green Bay West High School took top honors with a concept that invited students, teachers and staff to make one-of-a-kind fused glass snowflakes, each representing the individuality of the person who created it. Together, the custom ornaments reflected the school’s collective personality.
The school brought its design to life on the 20-foot artificial tree in GRB’s lobby (to the right). The second-place winners, also both schools, decorated 10-foot trees for concourses A and B. One featured beadwork, language samples and custom ornaments that told the story of what it means to be a member of the nearby Oneida Nation. The other tree shared the history of papermaking, an important local industry, with handcrafted paper snowflakes.
This year, the airport plans to again select three winners. The artist or organization submitting the first-place proposal will receive $1,000 for supplies to decorate the lobby tree. Each of the second-place contestants will receive $500 for materials to execute their designs on the smaller trees.
Winners will decorate the trees the week after Thanksgiving, and a public tree lighting ceremony will be held in the lobby during early December. Photos of the second-place trees will be displayed, as only ticketed passengers are allowed through the TSA checkpoint.
