When the Festival of Trees opens at Reeves-Reed Arboretum on Sunday, December 6, nothing hanging on those trees will have come from the arboretum. The arboretum supplies the trees and sets them up. Local families, scout groups, schools, nonprofits and businesses bring everything else, decorate during a four-hour window the day before, and leave the result for visitors to judge. When the open house closes, many of the trees stay on the grounds, where they become mulch or branches that protect garden beds from frost over the winter.
The best-known holiday display in Summit's public garden is made by the town, judged by the town, and then given back to the garden in mulch and frost cover.
The Arboretum Provides the Tree and the Stand
Each sponsored tree is roughly five to six feet tall and comes already in a stand. Each one gets an assigned number, a title, and the name of the group, family or business that decorated it. Everything else is up to the sponsor.
| Detail | 2026 terms |
|---|---|
| Who can sponsor | Local businesses, organizations, families, schools and scout groups |
| Sponsor fee, families, nonprofits, schools and scouts | $125 |
| Sponsor fee, corporate and business | $150 |
| Registration deadline | December 1 |
| Decorating window | Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Included | Two complimentary Holiday Open House tickets |
| Contact | Jackie Kondel at the arboretum |
The arboretum notes that it will have a limited number of trees and asks sponsors to sign up early. Sponsors pay through the arboretum's donation page, and the arboretum asks them to write in the details box that the donation is for sponsoring a Festival Tree, along with the name of the family, group or business. Sponsors get more details about the decorating sessions by email a few days before December 5.
The fee structure says a lot about who the event is for. The $125 tier covers families, scout troops and school groups, so the trees on the grounds come largely from households and local groups, and the $150 business tier sits alongside them.
Garden Rules Shape What Goes on the Branches
The trees stand outdoors, and the arboretum's sponsor guidelines read like a gardener wrote them. A few rules shape what ends up on each tree:
- No outlets. The grounds have no electricity, so any string lights have to run on batteries.
- Weatherproof ornaments. The arboretum recommends decorations that can stand up to rain or snow and are fastened securely in case of wind.
- No balloons or candles.
- Props are welcome. Sponsors can place extra items under or near their tree.
The arboretum lists past themes that included Wordle, goats, sports and cooking. First and second place prizes are awarded. Winners are notified within a day or two of the event, and the arboretum posts the winning trees on social media.
Because the decorating window closes at 2 p.m. on Saturday, every tree is built in a single four-hour session. Any team planning something ambitious will want its battery packs, zip ties and props ready to go before arriving at 165 Hobart Avenue.
Sunday Is When the Rest of Summit Votes
The Holiday Open House runs Sunday, December 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is open to all ages. Tickets cost $10 for members and nonmembers alike, and children under 12 get in free. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
Voting on the trees is the centerpiece, and the rest of the afternoon is arranged around it:
- A Sip & Shop Holiday Market with boutique vendors and a complimentary holiday cocktail
- The Woodland Winter Story Walk, Candy Cane Lane and a winter craft for children
- Live carolers
- A holiday raffle for a lifetime family membership to the arboretum
Cookies, Cocoa & Photos with Santa takes place inside the historic Wisner House and needs advance registration. The price is $35 per pose for members and $40 for nonmembers. The arboretum's annual events page says a Santa session includes free entry to the open house, so a family that books a photo does not also need a $10 ticket for that visit.
The Same Sunday Morning on DeForest Avenue
December 6 is also a Sunday for the Summit Farmers Market, which runs every Sunday from April 19 through December 20, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine. The market sets up at Park & Shop Lot #1, at the corner of DeForest Avenue and Woodland Avenue. This is its 33rd season, and it features New Jersey purveyors.
The two schedules overlap without competing. The market opens three hours before the arboretum gates and closes three hours before them, so the day can run in order:
- 8 a.m. The farmers market opens at Park & Shop Lot #1.
- 11 a.m. The Holiday Open House opens at Reeves-Reed, and voting on the trees begins.
- 1 p.m. The market closes for the day.
- 4 p.m. The open house ends.
- 4 to 4:30 p.m. Sponsors taking a tree home remove it from its stand.
Thanksgiving weekend falls inside the regular schedule too, so the market is set to run on Sunday, November 29.
After 4 p.m., Each Tree Goes One of Two Ways
Once voting ends, each sponsor decides what happens to its tree. A family can take the tree home between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday or come back for it by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9. A sponsor that does not want the tree can remove the decorations and props in the same windows and leave the tree at the arboretum.
The trees left behind stay in the garden. The arboretum says it can turn them into mulch or use the branches to shield its beds from frost through the winter. By the middle of December, a tree a scout troop decorated on a Saturday morning may already be protecting plantings across a nonprofit's public grounds. In the arboretum's words, sponsorships support "our non-profit public gardens, grounds, and environmental education programs."
Downtown's December Dates Are Still Tentative
The arboretum's weekend has firm dates. Downtown's holiday calendar does not yet. In a February 2026 release published by TAPinto Summit, Summit Downtown Inc. described its holiday lineup as tentative and subject to change pending City approval. The proposed dates were:
- Small Business Saturday: November 28, all day
- Carriages & Carolers: Saturdays from November 28 through December 19, 1 to 4 p.m.
- Celebrate in Summit: Saturday, December 19, 1 to 4 p.m.
If that plan is approved as proposed, carriage afternoons downtown would begin at 1 p.m. on December 5, an hour before the decorating window closes at Reeves-Reed. Celebrate in Summit would fall the day before the farmers market's last Sunday of the season on December 20. Summit Downtown Inc. posts its final schedule at summitdowntown.org, and that is the place to check before planning a Saturday around those dates.
The Reeves-Reed dates are already set. Registration for a Festival tree closes December 1, the decorating window is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on December 5, and the trees will be in place for voting when the gates open at 11 a.m. on December 6.
The McGurl Team follows Summit's seasonal calendar, from market hours to sponsorship deadlines, for clients who are settling into town or planning a sale around the season. If you'd like to talk through timing in Summit this winter, Request a Private Consultation.
