FESTIVAL MAGIC: Morven Museum & Garden’s 19th annual Festival of Trees, accompanied by a lineup of programs and events, will take place at the historic Stockton Street house from November 20 to January 5, with trees and mantels decorated throughout the museum galleries under the theme of Traditions and Celebrations. (Photo courtesy of Morven Museum & Garden)

By Donald Gilpin

Morven Museum & Garden’s 19th annual Festival of Trees will open on Wednesday, November 20 with displays by a wide variety of decorators representing more than 20 different local nonprofits, schools, garden clubs, community groups, and individual artists.

Running through January 5, 2025, the Festival will feature a juried selection of creations by groups and individuals who submitted applications to decorate trees and mantels throughout the museum’s galleries.

“The level of detail and ingenuity in this year’s applicant pool was very impressive,” said Morven Executive Director Rhonda DiMascio. “While selecting the right mix of exhibitors can be challenging, with the breadth of decorators the committee selected, the Festival of Trees 2024 will be a season highlight for longtime and new visitors alike.”

Traditions and Celebrations is the theme of this year’s festival, with decorators drawing inspiration from Morven’s history and stories of its residents, based on the current exhibition “Morven Revealed: Untold Stories from New Jersey’s Most Historic Home.”

Morven, an 18th century house at 55 Stockton Street, was built in the 1750s and was home to Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Five generations of Stocktons lived there, then Robert Wood Johnson Jr., before Morven became New Jersey’s first governor’s mansion, where five New Jersey governors lived between 1944 and 1981. It has been a museum since 2004.

An indoor/outdoor Winter Garden Party at Morven on Thursday, December 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. will celebrate the Festival of Trees. In addition to seasonal food and drink offerings around the fire pit and the displays of decorated trees and mantels and holiday songs in the galleries, there will be family holiday stories told by Honey Hughes, daughter of the late Richard Hughes, who served as the 45th governor of New Jersey and lived at Morven with his family from 1962 to 1970. Tickets, available at morven.org or by contacting Morven Chief Development Officer Megan Shackney at mshackney@morven.org, will include exclusive access to a special exhibit, “20 Years of Exhibits,” on view in the Stockton Education Center at Morven, along with a 10 percent discount in the museum gift shop.

Along with the Festival of Trees, programs and events in the month of December will include wreath-making workshops on December 2 and 3, holiday teas on December 8, an after-hours tour on December 11, family night with gingerbread house decorating on December 18, and A Night Out at the Museum with choral singers from Westrick Music Academy on December 20.

“Our program and events schedule for December is a mix of Morven history, music, art-making, and holiday celebration,” said Morven Curator of Education and Public Programs Greer Luce. “December is certainly a special time at Morven.”

This year’s Festival of Trees decorators include American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School, Arts Council of Princeton/Princeton Nursery School, Contemporary Garden Club of Princeton, Adam Fenstersheim, The Garden Club of Princeton, Historical Society of Princeton, Lawrenceville Main Street Landscape Committee, Katelyn Liepins, Mount Laurel Garden Club, Nottingham Garden Club of Hamilton, Princeton Garden Theatre, Princeton Ski and Sail Club, Stony Brook Garden Club of Princeton, Toobydoo Princeton, the West Trenton Garden Club, Westrick Music Academy: Princeton Girlchoir and Princeton Boychoir, and West Windsor Arts.

Corporate sponsors include Baxter Construction; Ronica A. Bregenzer, Architect LLC; Capital Health; Glenmede Trust; Honda of Princeton; and the Lopez Real Estate Group/Keller Williams Princeton.

Visit morven.org for further information and registration for events and the Festival of Trees.