If you can’t see the forest through the trees, then just enjoy the trees.

The 22nd annual Enchanted Forest will open at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, at the Rosholt Fair Park Community Building, 186 Forest St., Rosholt, and will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 23. Santa’s visits with the little ones are 6 to 8 p.m. every Saturday.

A petting zoo sponsored by the FFA Alumni will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

Doors will be closed on Christmas Eve, but open again from 2 to 6 p.m. on Christmas Day, Sunday, Dec. 25. The Enchanted Forest is free of charge, though donations are appreciated to help with operating costs. The project is organized by the Rosholt High School Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) students, with help from other community organizations.

This is the sixth year of being located in Rosholt after initially being in CenterPoint Marketplace in Stevens Point. More than 7,000 square feet of space is devoted to more than 150 decorated trees and holiday scenes. In addition to the indoor display, the roadways through Fair Park are also adorned with lights and other holiday displays.

“It grows every year,” said Jean Lacke, family and consumer science teacher at Rosholt High School and the FCCLA advisor. “We have trees that are 12 feet tall, angels, elves and bears, an antique sleigh – it’s definitely a destination for the Christmas season. The community really kicks in in terms of making it fun and unique.”

The FCCLA students decorate about 55 trees and set up dozens of scenes, including several areas throughout the forest where families can stop for a moment and take pictures. About 30 trees come in from the community with ornaments and decorations that showcase a business, theme or just a fun toy – like the rubber ducky tree next to the Sesame Street exhibit.

“The Enchanted Forest isn’t just a bunch of trees, it’s an entire community and their personality all put together in this one place to see,” said senior FCCLA member Mackenzie Glodowski, who has helped with the display since sixth-grade when her older sister was in high school and helping out.

“It’s all these random ideas that came from high school students and community members and they put all their ideas together to make this happen,” she said. “There’s so many unexpected things to be seen.”

There’s a Dora the Explorer tree, an abominable snowman cave and gingerbread house village, to name a few.

“The Enchanted Forest connects the community,” senior FCCLA member Andrew Kluck said. “It’s high school students, but also community organizations and companies that get together to put on this great scene that parents and grandparents can come and see and take pictures. It just kind of brings everyone together.

“Just to see everyone looking at the trees and smiling and knowing that students are doing this, that students have the capabilities of putting this on and everything,” he said. “I keep doing it every year to make people happy.”

About 45 students get together a few times prior to the event to swap ideas, to determine the layout and backdrops for the new year. Glodowski and Kluck work with the incoming freshmen to show them the ropes, get their feedback and add scenes. Glodowski also works with the eighth-graders on their own tree, creating their own ornaments to adorn it.

The students take off a couple of days of school and spend evenings and weekend time preparing the space, and what’s neat for Lacke is they all come back to tear it down and clean up when the event is over.

“It’s so much fun, it’s such a great Christmas tradition,” Lacke said.