A 35-foot artificial Christmas tree installed at Memorial Park in Slippery Rock is the focal point of the Slippery Rock Festival of Trees. Organized by students in SRU's Event Productions class, this nine-day event will take place during three weekends in December with food and craft vendors and horse-drawn carriage rides.submitted photo

The Festival of Trees boasts three weekends of excitement in Slippery Rock, starting Dec. 3.

According to Mary Jo Ross, professor of hospitality and events at Slippery Rock University and festival coordinator, the event will run the weekends of Dec. 3, 10 and 17 at Memorial Park at the corner of Main and Cooper streets. The big attraction, a 35-foot artificial tree originally from Walt Disney World, is already on display in the park.

“I thought this was the perfect community to create destination attractions so people will come to Slippery Rock and have Hallmark moments,” Ross said.

The event is partnered with the Slippery Rock Business Association and the borough.

Various craft and food vendors will be set up during the three weekends. There will be entertainment by Butler Center for the Performing Arts dancers, carriage rides by Misty Lane Performance Horses, a beer garden by North Country Brewery and glass blowing.

Ross said the glass blowers will be participating in the event all nine days.

“It’s such a unique entity in its own,” Ross said of the art. “We wanted to separate ourselves from other events in the community.”

Ross said the event is not affiliated with SRU but has been coordinated entirely by her and her class of 10 students at the university. Each student had a hand in making the event come to life with jobs such as marketing, volunteer coordination and entertainment.

“I do all my food and beverage classes with community attachment,” Ross said. “Having something tangible for them is much better learning than doing a report.”

The goal of the festival is to build on it year after year and bring more people into the borough.

“We’re going to stick our stake in the ground and see where it takes us,” Ross said. “We hope to bring more people to North Country. The goal is to come back 10 or 15 years later and see people still celebrating.”

Having grown up in Butler County, Ross said it brings her joy to make an impact on the community and build Butler back up with it’s events.

“I’m moved when people thank me for doing these events,” Ross said. “(This event) is to show people the beauty of what we have here and how warm and welcoming the community is.”