Catching up with… Angie Ulibarri

Angie Ulibarri brought the Georgia Festival of Trees, a wonderland of decorated trees, wreaths and nativities, back to the Georgia World Congress Center in 2021. For decades, the festival was an annual event at the GWCC to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta but by 2009, it was gone. Ulibarri revived it two years ago and it has grown into a weeklong holiday extravaganza. These are edited highlights from an interview.

Angie Ulibarri: photo Eric Sun.

Tell us about the Georgia Festival of Trees.

The [donated, decorated] trees are the most important piece of the festival. We’re really excited because it looks like we will have somewhere around 200 trees this year. We have a big auction that runs through the entire festival. The people who win the trees, wreaths, centerpieces and nativities get their tree delivered to their home, ready for the holidays. People come to see the trees, but they stay to enjoy all the other things that are happening. It’s quite a spectacle.

What else goes on at the festival?

Performers will grace our stage pretty much from the time we open to when we close. We have local dancers, singers, bands, magicians. It’s an exciting array of entertainment, and it’s really fun.

Are there activities for kids?

We have all kinds of things that kids can do: crafts, games. We have face painting. We have a post office where they can send a letter to Santa. We have the elf training academy, which is a giant obstacle course. There’s cookie decorating. We have the Santa’s workshop where parents can take their kids and give them a budgeted amount of money that they can then go in and shop with an elf, who will help them select gifts for their families.

Is the festival also a fundraiser?

Yes, we have three goals. First, we wanted to raise needed funds and awareness around the problem of the trafficking of children. In Georgia, a lot of people don’t realize that kids are being sexually exploited right here in our communities. We wanted to elevate that conversation and educate people about what’s happening.

Second, we wanted to bring the community together around something really joyful and beautiful. Third, I believe so strongly in the power of volunteerism and the way it builds relationships and creates goodwill in the community. I wanted to create a vehicle that would bring not just hundreds but thousands of people together to create camaraderie, build friendships and make memories.

What are the partner organizations?

We are excited to work with Street Grace. I love any organization that’s working with survivors [of trafficking]. But I really get excited about organizations putting power behind prevention. They are working to educate kids, so they’re safer. They’re educating parents, so they’re watchful. They work to help pass bills that protect survivors, so that when they’re arrested, these women are treated as victims, not criminals. It’s hugely important.

The other is a survivor-led organization called Atlanta Redemption Ink [run by Jessica Lamb, who in 2021 was recognized as one of Georgia Trend’s 40 under 40]. She is an expert in tattoos and has created a network of tattoo artists who will take these women, who are usually branded by their traffickers, and they will turn those tattoos into beautiful works of art. It goes from a mark of fear to something of beauty.

How much money do these donated trees raise?

Our total revenue last year was just shy of half a million dollars. One of my favorite things about the festival is that our auction is accessible to everybody. We have trees that will sell for very modest amounts. You could come in and get a fully decorated, designed tree for $250. We’ve had trees sell for over $2,000. Our hope is that people will begin to understand the value in the trees because they are professionally designed and fully decorated. They have a very high retail value.

Georgia Festival of Trees
Dates: Nov. 18-26, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Location: Georgia World Congress Center

Tickets: $18.95 adults;
$13.95 kids ages 3-11 and seniors 62+
gafestivaloftrees.org