|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… |
Snoqualmie has chosen Celebration Farms to operate the tree lot.
The annual tree lot at Gateway Park in Snoqualmie will have a new operator this year after the former operator closed up shop amid at investigation by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
The tree lot, at the intersection of Snoqualmie Parkway and State Route 202, has become a Snoqualmie tradition. For more than 20 years, it was operated by Outdoor Youth Association (OYA), a nonprofit that chartered Snoqualmie Valley Venturing Crew #115, a coed adventure program that is part of Scouting America. Members are ages 14-20.
After OYA told the city it would not be operating the lot in 2026, the city took applications for a new operator and chose Celebration Farms. The contract is being finalized with the hopes that a tree lot will open at Gateway Park this season.
The OYA tree lot allowed members of Venturing Crew #115 to raise funds for their organization and obtain real-life skills, with the help of parents and guardians of crew members.
According to 2012 reporting by the Snoqualmie Valley Record, the tree lot was “far more than a simple fundraiser,” having grown into a $60,000 business with a net profit of $24,000 — more than $35,000 in 2026.
But in January, a group of youth and their families left OYA due to organizational differences between members and leadership, as well as concerns about management of finances.
In August, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office sent an assurance of discontinuance to OYA. An assurance of discontinuance is a formal legal document that settles a legal dispute with litigation.
The document stated that the Washington State Attorney General’s Office “initiated an investigation into respondent’s activities involving the distribution, disposition, and/or expenditure of, or reporting obligations related to, property held for charitable purposes.” It also states that OYA failed to keep accurate accounting records from January 2022 to March 2026 and made incorrect reports on its 2023 and 2024 filings with the IRS.
In an assurance of discontinuance, a company agrees to correct its business practices, knowing that if it violates the terms agreed upon, the document can be used as a quicker way to pursue penalty in court. It is not an admission of guilt.
The attorney general has ordered OYA to maintain appropriate accounting records going forward; amend its 2023 and 2024 IRS filings and accurately reflect its financial condition; and pay $5,000 to cover the cost of the investigation.
OYA was founded in 1985 by Kim and Anita Ferree. It is governed by an six-member board of directors that recently included four members of the Ferree family but now includes one. According to documents given to the Snoqualmie Valley Record, only one member of the board, appointed in 2025, is a parent of a youth member of Crew #115.
According to the documents, OYA’s board and officers controlled the nonprofit corporation, including its financial accounts, organizational policies and charitable assets. A Crew Committee, largely made up of parents, supported the day-to-day youth program and its activities.
This article was updated Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. to clarify that OYA decided not to pursue the tree lot independently; the organization was not ordered to do so by the attorney general. Additionally, the article has been updated to reflect the current status of the OYA board.
