The final amount raised is still to be tallied, but organizers of the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation's Festival of Trees are branding this year's event an "overwhelming success."
"No amount of words can express how thankful we are for the support we received for this event," said Spirit of the North chief executive officer Judy Neiser in a press release issued Wednesday.
"We are so very grateful to our sponsors, donors, volunteers and everyone who attends this event to ultimately strengthen healthcare in the North.
"We respect that donors have a choice in where they donate, and we are so thankful that the community has embraced the Spirit of the North in their philanthropic wishes."
One fundraising number was released. More than $300,000 was raised last Friday night from the 251 people who attended the gala fundraising auction.
One of the highlights was seeing a Christmas fruitcake, made by former city councillor Shirley Gratton sold twice, raising $25,000 in total.
As well, within 10 minutes of Neiser issuing a call for donations for a Maldi-Tof mass spectrometer for University Hospital of Northern B.C., attendees responded to the tune of $120,000.
A new layout, 116 decorated trees and 53 wreaths made it the largest festival in its 22 years and some events sold out before it began, including the Dance and Dine Among the Pine, the fashion show, the seniors luncheon and tea, the family brunch and the teddy bear breakfast.
Also new this year were five pairs of matching "Miracle Mirror" trees with three pairs sold in the silent auction and two in the live auction.
The winning bidder of each pair keeps the first tree, while the "mirror" tree was donated to a family chosen by the St. Vincent De Paul Society.
