Festival of Trees Dec. 1-2 in Historic Downtown Brownsville

BROWNSVILLE — The Moyer House Museum is again hosting four beautifully decorated trees for the Brownsville Women’s Study Club’s annual Festival of Trees fundraiser the first weekend in December.

The Moyer House Museum is part of the Linn County Parks & Recreation Department. 

The Study Club has organized this popular event since taking it over from the Brownsville Chamber in 2015. Held in conjunction with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce’s Home for the Holidays festivities that take place the first Friday and Saturday of December it is always a lively event. The beautifully festooned trees are placed in locations all over downtown Brownsville for visitors to bid on in a silent auction.

This year the Festival of Trees event will be held on Friday and Saturday, December 1 and 2. Twenty-six trees decorated by “tree artists” will be placed in the Moyer House Museum and 17 other participating businesses around downtown. The tree artists are individuals or organizations willing to put their time and talents into transforming the trees into works of art for the good of the community, and often at great expense to themselves.

This year's trees are Nordmann firs grown by Glen Walker of Lebanon. The trees will be 5 to 6 feet tall and a variety resistant to shedding needles as the tree dries staying green for weeks. Would you like to take one of these fully decorated trees home? Or maybe you know of a family, church or nursing home that would be thrilled to have a festooned fir tree delivered to them by you, a generous donor.  

Over the two days, folks bid on their favorite trees and high bidders can take their fully ornamented tree home.  Bidding starts at 10 a.m. on Friday and ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

This fun event has proven to be a solid fundraiser for the Study Club, an organization started in 1910 to establish the town’s first library.

Proceeds support the library, the Moyer House and other community organizations.

This year proceeds will be donated to the Brownsville Sharing Hands to assist in funding the expansion of their Food Bank and to the Brownsville Library for purchasing new books and tapes.

The 2022 beneficiaries of funds raised, in addition to the Library, were Sharing Hands and the Brownsville Volunteer Fire Dept.

Host sites include, in addition to the Moyer House Museum, Pioneer Market Antiques, The Stitching Parlor, Randy’s Main Street Coffee and many more, all in walking distance throughout downtown Brownsville. 

This is a great time to visit historic Brownsville in all its holiday splendor, and plan to stay for the tree lighting and caroling on Friday evening.

For more information about the event, contact Festival of Trees coordinator, Cyndi Anderson at 541-570-1055 or email thebrownsvillehouse@gmail.com.