Five teams of designers proved their tree-decorating savvy during the Designers’ Challenge Sunday at the Quad-City Arts Festival of Trees.

The contest, a first for the Festival of Trees, combined elements of Extreme Makeover Home Edition with a dash of Survivor, topped with Fear Factor.

Fortunately, the five teams seemed to mesh faster than families on Trading Spouses. The organizers teamed professional decorators with two rookies and gave them an hour to complete a tree.

“Welcome to the first Designers’ Challenge. If it looks a little disorganized …” co-emcee Lora Adams, WQPT marketing director, said.

“That’s only because it’s the first one,” finished co-emcee Erik Maitland, KWQC-TV 6 meteorologist.

Decorators on the Navy, Khaki, Orange, Blue and Burgundy teams had 60 minutes to take a tree clad only in a strand of lights and create masterpieces to be sold later. The clock began ticking as designers dug into boxes of ornaments and fluffed the branches.

Each team earned the opportunity to add more ornaments as members correctly answered questions about long-ago movies, Christmas and the Festival of Trees.

Maitland rewarded correct answers with gummy bears and handed out a few extras as sympathy prizes to the few brave souls in the audience who wanted to be at home watching the Chicago Bears play.

Burgundy rookie member Cindy Ramos-Parmley of Moline (who, incidentally, is Mrs. Illinois) was put on the hot seat when asked the first question.

“What is the name of the actor who died in the Quad-Cities?” Maitland asked. A few seconds passed. “No longer with us. Still dead,” he prompted.

The answer was Cary Grant who was born Archibald Leach. He died in November 1986 in Davenport.

Damian Parizek, the professional member of the Orange team, kept focused even when asked whether termites had attacked its tree. His team bent the top over and dangled a red and green glass ornament at the bowed tip.

At first, the Burgundy team seemed to be moving at a slower pace. “It took us a little time,” pro member Chris Colman of Moline and Colman’s Florist & Greenhouses, said afterward. “We started with some little stuff, and it seemed like everyone else started with a tree top that was really showy.”

She mentally prepared for the competition while lying awake in bed and wondering what kind of decorations her team would have to work with, she said.

Experience guided the Khaki team as members draped their tree with glittering red butterflies and ribbon.

“I have six trees at home,” rookie member Alan Campbell said. “This is more of the same stuff.”

The Blue team topped its plaid-themed tree with a fan of red berries and branches and a Santa head. The Orange team’s Charlie Brown tree quivered under its load of finery, and Maitland jokingly called for a hazardous materials unit when the Navy team sprayed its tree with glitter.

The audience applauded all five trees at the end of the competition, but the Burgundy Team’s tree seemed to garner a little more applause despite the slow beginning.

The three women had to sort out their strengths quickly, said Burgundy rookie member Gretchen Goodwin of Rock Island. Having the opportunity to design a tree in competition fulfilled Ramos-Parmley’s dreams of appearing on the Martha Stewart show.

“This is as close as I’ll get,” she said.

Adams was pleased with the festive looking results and the opportunity to raise more money for Quad-City Arts.

“I was really happy with their sense of adventure,” she said. “In the end we got five pretty trees.”

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

If you go:

Quad-City Arts Festival of Trees at the RiverCenter, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport

Today’s events:

General admission hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

6 p.m.: Style Show: Doors open at 5:30 p.m., show starts at 6 p.m. After work style show features fashions from local stores and speciality boutiques. 

Prices: General admission tickets are available at the door. Adults, $7; seniors, 60 and older, $6; children, 2-10, $3.

For more information, call (563) 324-3378 or go to www.quadcityarts.com/festoftrees.