The lobby at 4537 Lowell Road used to belong to St. Mark's Episcopal Church. For most of November it holds a small forest of artificial trees, each with its own theme. Local businesses and groups sponsor them, and most bring the ornaments and the wrapped gifts underneath themselves. The trees are on display from November 6 through November 29, 2026. Whoever wins one in the silent auction takes home the whole thing in mid-December: the tree, the decorations and whatever is under it.
It looks like seasonal decor, but it works as a budget line. The money goes to the Tom Jones Tuition Assistance Fund, which lets families who need financial help send their children to the Center's summer camp for free or at reduced tuition. At the Carrollwood Cultural Center, the holiday season is how next July gets paid for. For neighbors in Avila, a short drive west into Carrollwood Village, a bid on a tree is one of the most direct ways to support the community arts center closest to the gates.
A church the county owns and a nonprofit runs
The setup behind the auction explains why it carries so much weight. Hillsborough County owns the building. Operations are run by the Friends of Carrollwood Cultural Center, a 501(c)(3), under a partnership that renovated the old St. Mark's church into an arts campus. The campus opened in March 2008. It has a 26,000-square-foot main building with a stage, dance floor, art studios and conference rooms, plus a second building called The Studio for classes, performances and gallery displays.
The man most closely tied to the place is Tom Jones, whom the Center calls its founding father and architect. A Tampa Beacon story republished by the Center reports that Jones had the idea as early as 1996. It also says the Friends group formed four years before the doors opened and named the tuition fund after him in 2010, when he stepped down as founding president.
Neighbors built the tree tradition too. According to the Center's event page, community members Shirley Overton and Denise Deneen came up with The Holiday Tree Project to help the Center raise money:
"The idea is simple: collect a few artificial Christmas trees and decorate them with a unique theme to be auctioned off during a silent auction."
How a tree turns into a camp scholarship
The 2026 cycle has already started, and every step has a date. Here is how one tree makes its way from a sponsor's idea to a winner's living room, according to the Center's sponsorship page and event listing.
- A group picks a theme. A business, club or organization signs up with its name, its theme and whether it needs a tree. Groups can donate their own tree or decorate one the Center provides.
- The group gathers the goods. Ornaments, gifts and other items that fit the theme can be new or almost new.
- The decorating happens in person. Groups come in during business hours between October 26 and November 5, 2026.
- Groups that can't decorate can pay instead. With the monetary option, Center staff buy a tree and decorations and dress it on the sponsor's behalf.
- The lobby opens to the public. The trees are on display from Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 29.
- Bidding closes online. The auction ends December 13, 2026 at 9 p.m., and the winners collect their trees in mid-December.
Sponsors who decorate get their name or logo on signage next to the tree. They also get a mention in at least two weekly e-blasts to more than 11,000 subscribers, the option to put a yard sign or banner out front during the auction, and four tickets to Tampa Metropolitan Improv's holiday show on Friday, December 18 at 7 p.m. The bidding link on the Center's page still reads "Coming Soon," so check back there once the trees go up.
The math behind a lobby full of trees
The totals are modest, and that makes them easy to compare. The 2024 auction brought in $2,700, according to the same Tampa Beacon account. The 2025 auction raised $3,513 for the Tom Jones fund, which is $813 more, or about 30% above the year before.
Those amounts matter more than they look because of what the Center says the event carries. It describes the tree auction as raising roughly 25% of its total fundraising goal. In late November 2025, with that year's trees already up, the Beacon reported that the Center had lost $25,000 in state funding from the 2024-25 budget, which gave the fundraiser "added importance." That lost funding was about seven times what the trees raised in 2025. A few thousand dollars from a lobby of trees can't replace a cut that size, but it explains why the Center keeps running the auction every year.
For anyone writing a check instead of placing a bid, the Center also takes direct donations to the Tom Jones fund through its 2026-27 tuition assistance campaign.
Every November event happens around the trees
This is where the calendar ties into the fundraiser. The trees stand in the lobby for the whole stretch in which the Center's busiest fall programming is scheduled. During the 2025 run, the display was open during normal business hours and during classes and events. A concert ticket gets you a walk past every tree on your way to your seat.
| Date | Event | Tree display |
|---|---|---|
| Fri.–Sun., Oct. 23–25 | Bat Boy: The Musical | Decorating underway |
| Fri., Oct. 30, 7–8:30 p.m. | Tampa Metropolitan Improv | Decorating underway |
| Sun., Nov. 1, 2–3:30 p.m. | "Horns & Halos," Cypress Creek Jazz Band with Tampa Spiritual Ensemble | Decorating underway |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Jazz with Jim | Opening day |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Carrollwood Market, 10 a.m.–2 p.m., and Franz Mantini's classical piano concert | On view |
| Sun., Nov. 15 | Carrollwood Winds, "Roots & Rhythms" | On view |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Carrollwood Jukebox Big Band | On view |
| Sun., Nov. 29 | Final day of the lobby display | Last look |
November 14 is the fullest day of the month. The Carrollwood Market runs its second-Saturday hours on the Center grounds, Franz Mantini plays classical piano that evening, and the trees are a week into their display. The opening weekend lines up just as neatly. Jazz with Jim plays on November 6, the same day the lobby opens.
After the lobby clears, the bidding keeps going
The display ends November 29, but the online auction runs two more weeks, and the Center's December calendar fills those weeks.
Saturday, December 5 is Holiday Village. The Carrollwood Village Phases II & III HOAs present it on the Center's park grounds, with holiday crafts and activities, food trucks, music and decorations. A festival listing gives the hours as 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., so confirm them with the Center before you head over. Jazz with Jim plays again the night before, on December 4.
December 8 and 9 belong to the youngest audience. A.C.T. for Youth stages House at Pooh Corner.
December 11 through 13 is A Madrigal Dinner, according to the Center's theater calendar. On Saturday, December 12, the last Carrollwood Market of 2026 runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The next night, Sunday, December 13, bidding closes at 9 p.m.
December 18 and 19 round out the season. Tampa Metropolitan Improv returns on the 18th for its holiday show, the same show tree sponsors get tickets to, and the Carrollwood Community Chorus performs its winter-holiday program on the 19th.
By then the trees are in other people's homes, and their auction money is in the Tom Jones fund for next summer's camp tuition.
A themed tree is staging at small scale. Each one has a single idea, a few carefully chosen pieces and a reason someone wants to take it home. That is how we approach every listing at Jose Cardenas, and it's why we love seeing it done so well a few miles from Avila. If you're getting ready for a season of your own, let's artfully market your home.
