The SHS Service Groups Assist with Festival of Trees-Skills USA, SHS FBLA, Key Club and JAG Decorate Trees for the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club’s Festival of Trees!
Launch the media gallery 1 playerFour of the SHS Service Groups Decorated Trees for the annual Seward Festival of Trees, sponsored by the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club. The SHS FBLA (Future Business Leaders group assist the Seward Rotary with their Centennial Tree, the SHS Key Club decorated the Memorial Hospital 75th Anniversary Tree and the Seward Kiwanis 60th Anniversary Tree. The Skills USA decorated the Harold Davisson “World’s Largest Time Capsule” 50th Anniversary Tree and the SHS JAG Classes (Jobs for America’s Graduates) decorated the Nebraska National Guard Museum 10th Anniversary Tree and the Staplehurst 150th Anniversary Tree.
Inspite of the cold and snow on Seward’s Christmas Festival, the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club’s Christmas Activities at the Seward Civic Center happened and were very successful on Saturday, November 29, 2025. “Of course we could have had more participation, but because we had all indoor events, our activities were not hampered, as were those scheduled for the outdoors,” noted Bonnie Kruse, President of the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club.
The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club coordinated their annual “Festival of Trees” at the Seward Civic Center, with 15 trees represented, honoring a variety of organizations, clubs, churches and businesses with special “Anniversaries” celebrated in 2025. The
“Anniversary” idea was the late Jean Kolterman’s, long time member of the GFWC SWC, who chaired the event until her recent passing,
Tree’s featured in the “Festival of Trees” included The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club-125 Years, The Seward Rotary Club-100 Years, Seward Memorial Healthcare Systems-75 Years, The Harrold Davisson Time Capsule-50 Years, Bottle Rocket Brewery-10 Years, Staplehurst Community-150 Years, Seward VFW Post 4755-80 years, Seward VFW Auxilary-79 Years, Seward Municipal Band-153 Years, Seward County Chamber Development Partnership-125 Years, Nebraska National Guard Museum-10 Years, The Aluminum Tree-75th Anniversary by The Gary Wolter Family, The Seward County 4-H Foundation-20th Anniversary, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Seward-75 Years, and the Seward Kiwanis Club-60 Years and a special reindeer sleigh donated by the Bill Payne Family. Plus, a special “Golden Anniversary” Tree to honor those in the area married 50 + years!
While most of the trees were decorated by their sponsoring organization, the local Seward High School JAG (Jobs for America’s Graduates) Classes, SHS Key Club, SHS Skills USA Service Group, SHS FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and area 4-H organizations partnered in decorating some trees as well for the local groups. The “Festival of Trees” is a free event, but the GFWC SWC is accepting “Free Will” donations to be donated to the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The “Festival of Trees” will be open through Christmas in the West Fireplace Room of the Seward Civic Center.
Also featured in the “Tree Room” at the Civic Center were four “Free” opportunities for drawings/raffles for all ages, and opportunity for participants to sign a “Card for a Veteran,” The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club collected unused Christmas Cards in the community and asked those present to take time and write a card thanking the Veteran’s for their service. Area classes at Seward High School also participated in the “Veteran’s Card” program-signing cards and thanking the Veteran’s. The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club will get the cards to the various veteran’s homes in Nebraska. Free hot apple cider, candy canes and homemade cookies were also offered to all in attendance by the GFWC SWC members.
A new “Pop Up Cookbook Store” was also featured at the Seward Christmas Festival, sponsored by the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club. The “store” featured hundreds of cookbooks donated by residents in the community and local GFWC Woman’s Club members. These cookbooks -slightly used or brand new, were offered to customers in exchange for a donation to the “Hope Crisis Center” in Seward County. The Hope Crisis Center features various programs to combat various family abuse situations in Seward County, offering a host of services.
The GFWC Seward Womans Club offered a free gingerbread house decorating activity for area families in the lower level of the Seward Civic Center. The houses were pre-assembled by club members and placed on a board, with foil for decorating. The candy materials and frosting and such were also available to the families for the decorations for the houses. The houses could then compete in the local contest-judged by local home realtors or just be taken home.
There was also a contest for the Gingerbread houses that were decorated in advance at home and brought into the Civic Center for the Festival. They were on display at in the East Fireplace Room all day, during the festival.
At the GFWC SWC Gingerbread House activity, free hot apple cider and homemade cookies were also offered to the participants -all donated by the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club. Additional sponsors, besides the GFWC SWC, to the expenses for the Gingerbread House activity were Seward’s Pac and Save Grocery, Wood Brother’s Realty, Seward Dairy Queen and Smurfit Westrock Seward Sheet Plant.
A special “Mitten Tree” was placed in the lobby of the Seward Civic Center-original building, where the community can donate new or gently used and clean gloves, mittens, scarves, caps and socks for the local, area Hope Gospel Rescue Mission in York and the City Mission in Lincoln. The gifts will be delivered in time for Christmas and the cold weather.
“This month is the end of our big 125th Anniversary of the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club and these activities are great examples of the work of the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club today and the support the club has given the community for the last twelve plus decades,” commented Bonnie Kruse, GFWC Seward Woman’s Club President. “I think that the wonderful leadership of these many GFWC SWC projects and the great club volunteers reflect the true Spirit of Christmas in Seward. Our local GFWC Seward Woman’s Club looks forward to many more years of service to the community and the families that live here and thank the people of the greater Seward area who continue to assist us in our many efforts. We, indeed, enjoyed a wonderful 125th Birthday year and we wish all a very Merry Christmas from the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club!”