Newell’s Festival of Trees holds annual auction virtually

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - With fewer volunteers during the pandemic, many small-town emergency services are to serve the community.

Newell’s Festival of Trees fundraiser raises money for their fire department and ambulance services every year. To keep the tradition alive, they’re going virtual this year.

Offering more than 80 holiday gifts online for people all across the Black Hills to bid on, all money raised goes directly to emergency services, split evenly between fire and ambulance services. The EMS Director says online bidding starts this Saturday and ends on Dec. 10.

“We both depend on donations, help from the community in order to survive, we buy equipment to help keep us going, so that when a person is in need whether it be medical or fire,” Sherry Hocking said, “You have responders who are going to show up at your door, we’re going to be there to help, and that’s hard for these small towns to keep going without some help.”

Hocking says you can also donate to the Festival of Trees at the First National Bank in Newell. To bid on their holiday gifts, you can go here.