November and part of December can only be better, I suppose, with another edition of the Festival of Trees taking place on Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. This year’s festival includes some of what’s made up past festivals and some new ideas, too. Meredith Lowery, co-chair of the 2026 Festival of Trees, says trees are very much central to the theme, just a little bit differently this year.
“Historically, we started doing tree auctions, but very few people still want a full-size tree every year. So this year, one of our new things is to have celebrity ceramic trees. Since Mount Sequoyah has the clay studio and we have amazing clay artists, they have created, there’s about five different variants. Some of them look like something out of the Grinch, and yeah, but they’re amazing trees.
“And we’re going to have local celebrities come and glaze them with our clay studio artist. And they can paint them, too, if they want, but then we’re going to auction those off. So we’re going to have about 24 of those.”
Among the people creating those ceramic trees: Mayor Molly Rawn and former University of Arkansas Law School Dean Cynthia Nance. Meredith Lowery says last year’s fun run around the mountain is shifting a bit as well. This year, the runners won’t be circling the neighborhood, but they’ll still be on the mountain.
“Down into the Sequoyah Woods, going down the hill. So it is a trail run. And Ramsey Champagne, our executive director, loves this. It’s the Tree Topper Trail Run, which can be a mouthful, yes, but also a tongue twister of sorts, too. And so we will be running down the back side of the trail and back up the mountain. So that will be fun.”
There will also be a holiday-themed trivia contest open to the public on Nov. 20, and the jazz brunch is again the starter on Saturday, Nov. 14. The Mojo Trio with Leah Spears-Blackmon with lead vocals.
“One other new thing, too, is we’ve been historically in the Miller Lodge, which we’ve outgrown. So we are moving to the Bailey Center this year, which will be right next to our new Arsaga’s. That’s right. So people can pop in for brunch and then also pop over and get some coffee. Well, Arsaga’s will be open. And they are also doing the coffee for the jazz brunch. So we’re excited about that.”
And part of downtown Fayetteville will migrate up to the mountain on Nov. 19 as Bo Counts from the Pinpoint bar creates a holiday pop-up for one night only, and the arts market returns for two days after Thanksgiving.
“The artists up on the mountain can come and sell their wares over the Thanksgiving weekend, right after, Saturday and Sunday. And capping it all off is our Merry Mingle celebration, which ends our silent auction and the wine pull, like being able to potentially get a bigger prize from Hot Wine as our sponsor. And that is Dec. 11.”
Meredith Lowery is co-chair of the 2026 Festival of Trees, taking place on Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. She came to the Carver Center for Public Radio to talk about the festival Thursday. Details about all of the events connected to the Festival of Trees can be found here.
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