There were 3 gem spenders in my group. So I decided to load everything at the end of event and saw if it was worth buying boost. I saw that 1st place had almost 11000 points and decided not to buy boost. There was no use. But I had loads of things I couldn't load due to stupid requests of living wood and dust. So I'm at 4th place. And I'm glad I've got energy chest.
I think that the reward for 3d place isn't good. It's not a problem to make trade certificates. I don't collect from cows and hens only from stables and hatchery. So as for me the reward for 4th place is much more interesting.
I didn't receive trees from the baron either. I wasn' t going to chop them but I defently didn't refuse them. Actually I didn't chop even 2 trees I decided to leave them as decorations.