A peek into the 25th Annual Festival of Trees

December 1, 2017

Site Staff,

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- ‘Tis the season for one highly anticipated holiday tradition.

“The nice thing about Friday is, number one, the auction has started,” said Dana Matz, President of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce.

The decorations are up and the trees have been trimmed, it’s been a Muskingum County tradition for over a quarter of a century, it’s time for the Festival of Trees.

From trees to wreaths, to creative holiday displays, each one of the 218 entries is accompanied by an incentive to auction off. All in an effort to raise funds for the chamber of commerce.

“The funds that come in from this auction, fund the operations of the chamber of commerce and were in business for business; we’ve been doing that since 1905,” said Matz.

The donated incentives were then auctioned off live from the welcome center on the AM 1240 radio station.

“So each section is 15 minutes, so we have 5 to 7 entries every 15 minutes and we can have bid offs there could be 2 people here bidding, there could be a person on the phone, or two people on the phone bidding, so we close out the auction and we start the next slot but there may be a bid-off on an item if it’s very popular,” said Matz.

Bright colors, flashing lights and shiny decor aside, the Festival of Trees is a true testament to the community support that you won’t find just anywhere.

“Zanesville, and Muskingum County, is a very giving community, and I see all the times they come together and help when need be and I just want to be a part of that,” said Troy Ball, festival volunteer, and Community Ambulance Services EMT.

The chambers mission is to help area businesses from training to marketing programs, all while promoting the county that so many proudly call home.

“The chamber does so many things for Muskingum County and Zanesville, so it’s nice to help support them and give back to them for a change, to let them do even more for the community in the time to come,” said Ball.

To see results of the auction you can visit zmchamber.com.