Those events finish by mid-afternoon. In the evening, from 5-7pm, we’ll have a Christmas Stocking Trail downtown with stops for treats, crafts, a petting zoo, carriage rides, classic cars, photo stations, cookies & cocoa, Santa coming to town, and more - all free! (Other concessions available to buy, too.)

So, we’re pleased to announce that the Festival of Wreaths and Trees in Mount Union will be extending our hours so that we can add to the festive enjoyment and provide a Christmas Stocking Trail stop! We might not be the only event that usually closes earlier that’s doing so, so be sure to look up “Old-Fashioned Christmas in Mount Union” and/or the Mount Union Chamber of Commerce on Facebook for more details as they become available.

Come make some Christmas memories with those you love, morning and evening!

The Festival of Wreaths and Trees in Mount Union will be hosted at the Mount Union Presbyterian Church (corner of Shirley and N. Division Streets), over the second weekend of December, 2025:

Friday Dec. 12th: 10AM - 7PM Saturday Dec. 13th: 9AM - 8PM
      Sunday Dec. 14th: Noon - 3PM

(Bring your entries on Thursday Dec. 11th from 3-9PM or by arrangement; retrieve after 3PM Sunday.)

This year, the Festival By Night will be presented on Saturday Dec. 13th from 6PM to 8PM, so a stroll by Christmas-light can be part of the “Old-Fashioned Christmas in Mount Union” celebration!

We’re finalizing musical performances, and as we have for the past few years, we’ll have a few photo backdrops and our I-Spy tree. (Is there anything you’d like to see at the Festival? Let us know!)

Our Facebook group is “Festival of Wreaths and Trees in Mount Union” and our website is FestWreathsTreesMU.com. Our website displays entries and allows voting while the Festival is open, for anyone who can’t make it in person, or in case of early closure for any reason.

Our categories are: Wreaths, Trees, Youth Trees (for those under age 16), and Holiday Décor. (Categories may be sub-divided as necessary depending on entries.)

The theme of your entry is up to you. Any kind of holiday display can be entered, from the joy and enthusiasm of small children’s art, to display of a holiday collection or personal memories, to an entirely handmade tree, to an artistic arrangement of store-bought ornaments. If your entry has personal meaning to you, or has notable features like antique ornaments, please let us know so that we can share that information with attendees.

We love lights on entries (and they look great for the Festival By Night!), but we can’t plug anything in or have open flames, so we ask that all lights used be battery-operated. (We’re happy to change batteries/turn them on and off as needed.)

If you want to decorate a tree but don’t have your own to bring, we have a variety of sizes and colors of spare trees for use. We have a range of 3’ to 7’ green, black, and white trees, our unusual off-white tree (it’s aging but it’s still going!), and a wide variety of 2’ trees of different colors and styles. Just ask, and we can let you know what we have available and reserve a tree for you. Any size tree up to 9ft tall can be used; we have a step ladder to help reach those tall treetops.

As we know from Charlie Brown, even just one ornament can make a wonderful Christmas tree!  So don’t let concerns of not having enough hold you back - we’d love to see your entry!

And finally, we have our general Holiday Decor category. Want to show off your Decorated Stockings? Nativity Scenes? Ugly Christmas Sweaters? Vintage Santa Collections? We want to see! Handmade items encouraged for this category in particular (bought décor items should be modified unless antique or presented in a collection).

See our guidelines for full information about all of the above.

If you’re looking to sell your entry or ornaments from your tree, let us know to label it that way, and we’ll collect payment and turn it over at the end of the Festival. (Note that if you’d like to sell ornaments right off your tree, make sure and leave us any extras so we can keep it stocked for best display throughout the Festival if need be.)

Should you purchase a Festival entry that’s for sale, we ask that it be picked up on Sunday after 3pm (or that delivery arrangements for after the Festival be made) if at all possible, so that we can keep the display up until Festival closing for all to enjoy.

Full Festival Guidelines are included with this letter, as well as being available on our Facebook group and website. We recommend pre-registration at FestWreathsTreesMU.com (or call or drop us a text at (719) 332-6975, or email FestWreathsTreesMU@gmail.com). But, if you don’t get to, that’s ok - we can register during intake, too.

Either way, bring your entry to the Presbyterian Church on Thursday the 11th, where we’ll be setting up from 3pm to 9pm. (We know how hard scheduling can be! If you call or text, we can arrange to accept your entry earlier in the week or earlier on Thursday, or before opening on Friday morning. You can even drop off a box of ornaments for us to arrange on a tree for you!)

The Festival of Wreaths and Trees in Mount Union is made possible by donations and participation from our community. (As always, we have no admission or entry fees.) In addition, each year, to help spread Christmas cheer, we collect donations for a local organization. We’ve donated to the Huntingdon County Humane Society for the past few years, and would like to do so again.

So, if you have any Winter holiday items you’d like to donate for our sales table, just bring them on Thursday or Friday so we can set them out, and let us know if you’d like the proceeds to go to the Humane Society or to the Festival of Wreaths and Trees. (To donate to the overall “Old-Fashioned Christmas in Mount Union” effort, contact the Mount Union Chamber of Commerce.)

We are very grateful for the donations we have received in the past! The Festival could not happen without your help. Thank you!

Special thanks to the MU Historical Society, the MU Chamber of Commerce, the Juniata River Blueprint Community, the MU Presbyterian Church, Gretchen Crouse and the Mount Union Area High School Music students, and everyone who has entered wreaths, trees, and other items into the Festival, and everyone who comes to help set up and put away, for their invaluable help.

This is an incomplete list of those to whom we owe thanks! Without all of you, the Festival of Wreaths and Trees would not be possible.

And, we again extend our heartfelt thanks to Cathy and Norm Wilson, and the memory of Ish Goodman, for creating the Festival and keeping it going. We hope that the wonderful tradition that they established will continue to bring joy to our community for many years to come.

From the 1995 “Spirit of Christmas on Main Street” to the 2025 “Old-Fashioned Christmas in Mount Union”, we’ve been celebrating together for a long time. We sincerely thank you all, and hope to see you at the Festival!

-Leslie Armagost -Christine Armagost