Behavior Management Systems will deliver Christmas in November with its annual Festival of Trees on Saturday, Nov. 21. For the 12th year, festival-goers will be treated to entertainment, decorated holiday trees and unique gingerbread houses. Santa's North Pole Play Land will provide activities for the kids and photo opportunities with Santa Claus.

"It's like opening a Christmas package early," said Pearl Krush of Rapid City.

As the event's designer coordinator, Krush works with the tree designers each year to make sure no decorating themes are repeated. She also directs the pre-decorating of Rushmore Plaza Civic Center's Rushmore Hall and tree placement for the popular event, which attracts about 6,000 people.

Margaret Skillman, public relations director for Behavior Management Systems, said this is the organization's only fundraiser and requires an enormous amount of work by volunteers and designers, as well as the civic center staff.

Behavior Management Systems is a mental health center that has served all of western South Dakota for 61 years. The center currently serves about 10,000 clients annually.

Skillman said each Christmas tree has a sponsor and a designer. The sponsor makes a monetary donation that the designer uses to purchase the tree and the ornaments. The Festival of Trees is always held the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but the major fundraising occurs the evening before at a preview party and sale during which all of the decorated items are auctioned off. She said this is the first year that some of the trees have been pre-sold, which she said will shorten the auction time.

"When you have 27 things to auction off, the evening can get long," she said. Those 27 items include 13 trees, 10 wreaths and four centerpieces.

This year's tree themes include a coffee Christmas, Christmas traditions, a nostalgic Christmas, Christmas in the Black Hills, a John Deere Christmas tree and a hockey tree. Jolly Lane Floral will have the only live Christmas tree.

Skillman expects the "plainest" tree to be one of the most sought-after bidding items. The tree is called the "Mom Tree" and is 12-foot pine tree with 1,500 lights. It is sponsored by a group of women and comes with a four-day getaway to Napa Valley for four that includes air fare, hotel accommodations, limousine service to and from wineries and other gifts.

Another popular auction item will be a wreath sponsored by Rapid City Fire Department Local 1040 and designed by the Rapid City Firefighters Auxiliary, Skillman said. The wreath will be delivered to the highest bidder's home or business by fire truck.

Krush said because the trees need to be transported after the event, the decorators create them in such a way that the trees are strong enough to be stored fully decorated year after year.

"We wire all the ornaments in place so they are securely attached," she said.

The trees are bubble-wrapped and delivered the following Monday by some of the male employees from Behavior Management Systems who dress in tuxedoes.

"So it's really an event after the event when they deliver those trees," Krush said.

The 10 gingerbread houses, which will be patterned after the watercolors of local artist Richard Dubois, will be on display at The Journey Museum through Christmas.

Ordinarily the themes of the trees, wreaths and centerpieces are decided by the designers. With the pre-sale arrangement this year, the purchasing businesses had an opportunity to customize their trees. Black Hills Corporation is one of those businesses.

Hillary Dobbs, the company's senior communications coordinator, said company officials requested a theme that depicts the corporate mission: improving life with energy. The tree also will highlight the company's eight values through use of color and symbols.

"This whole process has been great," Dobbs said. "We went to them with our idea. We weren't sure if it was going to work or if it was something that was even possible. They were really receptive to our ideas and had some ideas of their own. So we were able to build off that."

Dawn Utzman of Rapid City is the designer of Black Hills Corporation's tree, which was sponsored by her husband's Rapid City law firm, Smoot and Utzman. The tree is 7-1/2 feet tall with white lights, and the main colors are maroon, various shades of green and bronze. She said she used many things found in nature, such as cranberries, icicles, pine cones and willow branches covered in icicles.

"Just things you'd find on a hike through the Black Hills," she said.

Shawn DeGroot, a glass artist from Rapid City, helped with the design, making handmade glass snowflakes for the tree.

In previous years, Utzman decided her own Festival of Trees design by whatever inspired her. One year she decorated a tree called a "Victorian Christmas," and another year she used musical ornaments in a "Joy to the World" tree. Last year she used a religious theme in a tree called "Silent Night."

"It's a real fun, creative outlet," she said. But more importantly, she said, it is a way for her to support Behavior Management Systems.

"I really believe in their mission and the role that they play in helping the mentally ill persons in our community," Utzman said. "I think the work they do is very important."