We’re about five weeks out from one of the great annual events as the Midcoast Tree Festival is just around the corner. To get you all of the need-to-know information, I have 10 important updates below.

Before that though, I wanted to mention the feedback I received from last week’s column about small businesses. About a dozen people reached out or stopped me on the street this week to tell me how much value they found in that piece.

Selfishly, it’s always nice to know when a piece resonates, and I get humbled by the positive feedback. However, for that column in particular, it’s meaningful because I heard feedback from both small business managers and the public at large that hadn’t realized what some of our small businesses go through week after week. If you didn’t see it, I encourage you to look back and find it.

With that, let’s dive into the MTF!

MTF details

For those who don’t know, the Midcoast Tree Festival is an annual, six-day event that happens the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays before and after Thanksgiving at St. John’s Community Center in Brunswick (43 Pleasant St.). The event is in its 6sixh year, has had 15%-30% growth annually, and more gets added to it every year.

This fundraiser for Spectrum Generations, All Saints Parish and the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber is comprised of 50-plus tree spaces with gifts being set up by 50-plus businesses and community groups, all having $500 worth of tree, gifts and decorations, and the trees get raffled off using raffle tickets that are 50 cents apiece. Along with the tree raffle, there are daily children’s crafts, two to three family entertainment acts daily, a festively decorated space, holiday concessions, bake sales and more.

MTF 2024 dates

MTF 2024 opens on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Nov. 22-24, and then closes for Thanksgiving week. We open back up on Black Friday, Nov. 29, and run Saturday and close Sunday, Dec. 1, when we draw the winners and notify them late Sunday afternoon.

MTF 2024 expanded hours and MTF After Dark

We added a second late night this year, as we didn’t have any late nights on the second weekend previously. The hours are as follows: 4-8 p.m. Nov. 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 23, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 24, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 29, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 30 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 1.

MTF After Dark is when we turn down the overhead lights for the final hour of each night so that the tree lights shine a little more. We have complimentary flashlights for people who want to use them for that last hour.

MTF opening celebration

As always, we will have an opening night celebration on Friday, Nov. 22, starting at 4 p.m. We’re planning a ribbon-cutting and words from our partners, along with a special entertainment act that we aren’t announcing yet. Also, we are inviting all of the tree sponsors to attend and meet the other tree sponsors. We may even have a special dessert. Stay tuned for more details.

How to get more information

There are three best ways to stay informed, and in order they are:

• Midcoast Tree Festival Facebook page. Search for it, like it and follow it. We’re posting every other day right now; soon it will be daily and then multiple times daily.

• BBRC website. We have a dedicated page on the BBRC website at midcoastmaine.com. Under the “Our Communities” tab, you will find the Midcoast Tree Festival page in the drop-down menu. This is the best way to find all the documents you may need like event flyers, volunteer info, tree forms, tree and wreath guidelines, etc.

• Call the BBRC office or email cory@midcoastmaine.com If you are not an online person, you can try our office line at 725-8787 or email me. Setup for this begins now as we are meeting with sponsors, securing gifts and more, so we are running around, but if you can’t find the answers online, give us a shout and we’ll get back to you.

Tree and wreath update

We have a dozen or so tree spaces left available, so if you want to be a tree sponsor, now is the time! Download the forms from either the Facebook page or the chamber website, or shoot me an email to secure your space!

As for wreaths, that is how our nonprofits participate. If your organization would like to donate a wreath, please reach out. We encourage you to make it festive but remind you that there is no gift requirement for wreaths.

Volunteers

The quite literal lifeblood of our event are the dozens of volunteers who cover around 200 shifts throughout the six days. We are always looking for more volunteers, and it is a fun, festive way to meet a ton of great people (plus you get a T-shirt). The volunteer link is also on the chamber website and the Facebook page.

Bed Races, Nov. 9

The MTF Bed Race team will be back at the Brunswick Downtown Association’s Rolling Slumber Bed Races, looking to improve on our fourth-place finish last year! Come out and root us on!

Want to help decorate?

The two days leading up to the event are our setup days, and along with setting up trees, we have to decorate the community center. Want to help? You can find the times on the Volunteer link referenced above.

MTF auction

We are adding an auction to the event (online auction, in fact, but with the items displayed on-site). How will it work? What will be in it? Well, I’ll tell you more about it when we get more of the items secured — stay tuned.

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.