Zanesville’s Festival of Trees Auction

The 23rd annual Festival of Trees took place Friday at the Zanesville-Muskingum County Welcome Center.

The festival attracted hundreds of bidders this year, as a wide array of themed Christmas trees and holiday decorations are up for auction. Chamber president, Tom Poorman, said there were more entries this year than ever before.

“The entries are up this year, we have 224 entries, last year we weren’t quite at 210, and it does fluctuate from year to year, but this was one of those really strong years, a lot of strong support this year,” Poorman said.

The Festival of Trees is an annual holiday tradition that raises funds for the Chamber of Commerce. Poorman said the community really stepped up this year, and they hope to exceed their goal of $50,000.

“This is money that we put back in the community throughout the year, it’s a big chunk of our operating budget at the chamber, and what we do at the chamber is business development, economic development, we provide services to community’s existing businesses,” Poorman said.

If you are a winner in Friday’s auction, you can claim your prize at the Welcome Center Saturday morning, from 9 until 11, or next Monday during normal businesses hours.

Over $50,000 was raised during the event.

The event aired live on AM 1240 Radio and whiznews.com.