ROCKWELL — The annual Festival of Trees opens at the Historic Rockwell Museum at 6 p.m. Friday. Santa will come to meet the kids and supervise the lighting of the town tree at the gazebo. There will also be caroling and refreshments.
The display will be open through Dec. 15. Hours are weeknights 6-8 p.m., Saturdays 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m., and Sundays 1-4 p.m.. The museum is located next to the gazebo at the intersection of Main Street and Broad Street. Handicapped parking is available behind the building. 
The 10 live trees are decorated by various churches, businesses, civic and school groups. When the festival ends, the trees are given to needy families.
The theme of the miniature village this year is “An Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade.” Parading down a residential street are a horse guard, several bands, the decorated vans of local businesses, a troop of Girl Scouts  and Santa. The mayor and other dignitaries are ready to award trophies from the reviewing stand, while a hot-air balloon floats over the scene. Most of the town has turned out for the parade, while some of the younger crowd prefers sledding or skating, or building snow forts and having snowball fights. 
The villages created by Mallory Allen of Gold Hill are different each year and use pieces from her own collection. “This year I wanted to use the houses I have that are larger than the usual village buildings and the rest of the theme grew from there,” she said. She starts planning her villages a couple of years in advance and finds buildings and accessories to illustrate the themes.  
Groups and Individuals who decorated the trees are: Jean Puckett, Rockwell Civitan, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Red Hat Society, Rockwell Elementary School kindergarten class, Rockwell Elementary School third grade class, Rockwell Lions Club, Rockwell United Methodist Church, Ursinus United Church of Christ and St. James Lutheran Church.