Festival of Trees

If I could give 0 stars, I would. This place/​event does not worth any money or time. So you pay admission fee which $ 15 and then you have to buy package of tickets for $ 20 for small games. Any other serious art crafts you have to pay $ 5 – 10 each. Save your money and time for something more meaningful!

First of all, the money from this event goes to an amazing agency that I wholly support. I firmly believe in their mission, and applaud their efforts. That being said, I have no idea how anyone could shower this event with glowing praise. No clue. My only guess is that you are from the middle of nowhere, or are easily amused. Issues: venue. This is at the MD State Fairgrounds. Low, ugly squat buildings. We arrived early at 1030 am and still fought for parking. We could not guess which building it was in because they are all somewhat small, rundown, and ugly-​looking. We followed the crowd to what could only be described as a redneck Christmas party. Tacky crafts galore. Ugly Christmas items, dog themed gifts, all things Ravens and O’s (not tacky), melted beer bottle wind chimes, and jewelry made from flatware. That pretty much sums up the market. Only redeeming feature: chocolate bacon bark. Inside the venue insanely hot, crowded, and awful air circulation. My husband was disgusted with the venue and patrons, and was quite concerned that he contracted some type of infection by attending. He reported that one man belched several inches from his face. Yes, Merry Christmas, indeed.
The ad said 600 Christmas trees. I say maybe. Yes, there were a lot of themed Christmas trees for sale for charity, but only a handful were decorated well. Id been to my local garden store the night before and saw better trees there.
Rides: the McCormick Carousel (which actually had three rows of horses taped up and waiting repair), a train (two dollars for two laps around the track after a HUGE line), pony rides (which lent an offensive horse poop odor to most of the arena), a funhouse which had many broken portions (clown head that was supposed to pop up was broken and hanging sideways, immobile, moving sidewalk portions that were also immobile), a car racing simulator that I did not ride.
Things included in ticket price: some shows. A magic show, Irish step dancers, and some musical performance. I can’t comment on these as I did not watch. A small petting zoo. My child was able to pet a snake and a bunny. Looking at Christmas trees– some were very skillfully decorated. A gingerbread house show. Maybe 35 houses, only 10 were worth taking a picture of.
Not included: face painting, sand art, a Christmas craft, carnival games. They even charged to see Santa. I did not wait on the insane line to pay for that.
Overall, hot, crowded, somewhat expensive (although the money is going to charity). My two year old had fun. I would never ever go back. We drove from 40 minutes away– that was way way too far to drive to this event. I am flabbergasted that people routinely drive from PA annually for this. I’m puzzled really. That’s my two cents.
I could only find glowing reviews that exclaimed how awesome this was, and overall I was really disappointed. I was hoping to make this a family tradition, and honestly it was more like Christmas purgatory. I could not wait to leave. If you are forced to attend this event, go early. Be prepared for large crowds, traffic, and have low expectations. And bring hand sanitizer-​lots if it! You will need it for the port a potties!

Despite the traffic getting here and finding parking we had a good time on Sunday.
We won two free tickets, got in line to purchase our kids tickets when 2 people gave us 3 tickets to enter. Talk about the Holiday Spirit, Good Karma vibes working out :)
We checked out all the trees that were decorated by different organizations. It gave my wife some ideas for decorating our tree. Watched a magic show, which was enjoyable for all. Tons of vendors, like a flea market but lot of cool stuff for sale.
Overall good time and worth the free tickets :-)

Went on Saturday, very suprised at the line to get tickets. Once you got inside, it didn’t really seem overly crowded but the place is huge.
I honestly had the best day here with my kids that I have had in a long time.
Trip highlights:
— Picture with santa
— Huge train garden
— Crafts
— Wide variety of trees
— Cool vendors
— Awesome Snacks
There was so much to do, we probably missed a bunch but the main things are listed above. My kids liked Santa’s playland so much, they had a huge slide, carousel, train rides, crafts, games, the works. And for .50 cents a ticket at 2 – 4 tickets per attraction, that seems like a deal to me. The smiles on my babies faces are worth far more than the cost.
I enjoyed looking at the creative variety of decorated trees and gingerbread houses.
I swear, everytime we turned around there was something new and either free or cheap for us to do. Sensory overload for my son, he nearly exploded when he saw the giant train sets. They both could have sat there all day watching the train go around.
I am one happy mama! This is a officially a new family tradition for us!
Ps. Don’t buy the soft pretzels… yeah, yuck.

If you want to see hundreds of decorated Christmas trees, wreaths, and gingerbread houses all in one day, this is probably the only place in the country you’ll be able to do it. They are all crafted by local artists and organizations, and available for sale, with the proceeds going to charity. There are also dozens of vendors selling a wide variety of treats and other goods, including many selling Christmas gear like ornaments. There’s also food, games, and a merry-​go-​round… and of course, pictures with Santa! (Free with admission — you use your own camera.)
The only downside to this event is that it is crazy crowded. This means it’s tough to move around the space, and the lines for food are very long. I can’t figure out if it’s better to come early or late in the day, or if it doesn’t matter… north of fifty thousand visit over the three days, so it’s always a zoo.
The event is held annually during Thanksgiving weekend. All proceeds benefit Batlimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute, which serves children with brain and spinal cord injuries. If that’s not the Christmas spirit, I don’t know what is.