Angels and ribbons adorn one wreath. Gingerbread figures decorate another. But the Festival of Wreaths in Westminster also highlights the offbeat: wreaths made of pencils, a whole sunflower, clay miniatures or even sponges -- as in kid's cartoon favorite SpongeBob SquarePants.

The Carroll County Arts Council fund-raiser starts today and runs through Saturday. Visitors will find more than 150 wreaths on three levels at the Winchester Exchange Building at 15 E. Main St. And they will see that Christmas decorating doesn't have to begin and end with pinecones.

The "Hippo Holidays" wreath has three large papier-mache hippo heads in Santa Claus caps, showing off their chompers. Down the hall is barber Cal Bloom's usual contribution: a traditional wreath with minicans of men's hairspray and shaving cream, as well as a hairbrush and comb. Many businesses and organizations incorporate their products into their wreaths, and some tack gift certificates to their creations. Yesterday, staffers and volunteers hung the wreaths, which filled the building's halls, stairways and the art council's gallery in the basement.

This year's festival, the fifth such fund-raiser that has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the arts council, is the last that the group will hold in the Winchester Exchange office building in downtown Westminster. The arts council is scheduled to move in the spring to its new quarters down the street at the former Carroll Theatre, now undergoing renovations. "We thought this might be our last year doing this festival, but when I mentioned that to people, you would've thought I was taking the Nativity scene out of the Christmas play," said Sandy Oxx, Carroll County Arts Council's executive director. "People said I couldn't do that. So we'll probably continue doing it at the new building."

Record bid last year

As the wreaths were hung yesterday, clipboards were placed beneath to record silent-auction bids. This is the arts council's biggest fund-raiser of the year. Last year, the sale of about 150 wreaths raised more than $12,000. That's nearly twice the amount raised by the first Festival of Wreaths in 1998, when 64 wreaths went for $6,000. Minimum bids range from $10 to $400. Most wreaths fetch $25 to $50. The record bid was made last year, when a table with a wrought-iron base and a top shaped like a wreath fetched $850.

James L. Lightner, a former mathematics professor at what now is McDaniel College, and current arts council board member, was busy yesterday hammering away, fitting wreaths on walls and clipboards underneath. He marveled at some of the wreaths, adding, "People can see the creativity in this community."

In the hall is a wreath with a smiling snowman, and another with a Nativity scene.

Downstairs in the arts council's gallery, the definition of "wreath" is stretched. One has miniature clay teapots, cups and saucers, another a sunflower bursting with dried vegetables and flowers from the fall harvest. Another is made of pencils.

This year, a favorite children's television character is depicted: SpongeBob, as imagined by Oxx's program assistant, Joy T. Thomas. She has ditched the traditional bough and created a circle of multicolored sponges, each with colorful beads glued into the holes. Below the words "Greetings from Bikini Bottom" are several SpongeBob action figures in their packaging, a talking starfish and a watch.

Besides being a showcase for creativity and the primary source of money for the arts council's office overhead and for supplies for art classes, the festival helps to spread the word about the group.

"Before this, we never had a big event," Oxx said. "This festival brought people's attention to what we do here."