LEWISTON — Jenna and Jessica Doucette loved the brightly lit, beautifully decorated Christmas trees at the Kora Shrine Temple in Lewiston. But the sisters from Hartford had ulterior motives when it came to dropping their raffle tickets into the candy-cane collection bins.

“The most fun is the tickets and looking at all the trees,” said 9-year-old Jenna.

Her 8-year-old sister was quick to add that the two were closely inspecting the gifts under the trees before dropping their tickets. Because no matter what the decorations looked like — the bounty of gifts came with the tree.

The girls were among the nearly 1,000 people who attended the opening day of this year’s Kora Shrine FEZtival of Trees. Now in its fifth year, the event continues to grow in popularity across the Twin Cities, as well as the region.

“There really isn’t much around for people to do during the holidays,” said Jennifer Tucker of Lewiston, the Doucette girls’ aunt who took them to the event. “We had such a great time here last year that we thought we’d bring the girls.”

The FEZtival of Trees, named after the funny hats worn by the Shriners, continues through Saturday, when event organizers will pick the winning raffle tickets for nearly 60 trees on display. All of the trees are donated by local Shrine units and groups, business and other organizations. One of the most popular — the Edward Little High School tree — includes a bounty of gift certificates, gaming systems and other electronics.

Randy Murray, who is in his second year as chairman of the FEZtival of Trees, said the event had nearly doubled in size every year since its inception. He said the event is a great way for families to kick off the holidays. But more important for local Shriners is the chance to showcase the organization’s century-old Kora Temple at the corner of Main and Sabattus streets.

“We have this beautiful temple,” Murray said. “And we have people who’ve lived all their lives in the Lewiston-Auburn area and they’ve never seen the inside of this temple.”

One such resident, Ellen Kinsella, was amazed by the Kora Temple’s elaborate interior design and floor-to-ceiling wall murals. The FEZtival of Trees features the beauty of the entire building as a backdrop for the wonderland of Christmas trees adorning the second floor. The first floor features some of the area’s best artists, craftsmen and cooks selling their wares, as well as a food court.

“I’ve never been inside the building,” Kinsella said. “The set-up of the event is pretty neat, but the building is really beautiful.”

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