For fifteen holiday seasons, the Westford Festival of Trees was held in a single building: the Westford Regency Inn and Conference Center at 219 Littleton Road, a hotel that opened in 1983 on land that had been a working farm until Interstate 495 was built. The trees, wreaths and gingerbread went up in the hotel's rooms each December, and visitors drove out to see them.
That building has closed. For 2026, the festival runs from Sunday, November 29 through Wednesday, December 30 at four places instead of one. Three of them are a short walk apart around Westford Common, and the fourth is a farm off Route 40. Westford's biggest holiday display is moving into the same few blocks that already host most of the town's November calendar, and this year one walk around the Common can take in much of the season.
How a hotel ballroom became the festival's home
Patti Mason started the Festival of Trees in 2010 as part of Westford Family FunFest, a nonprofit advisory fund with the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. Speaking to The Ghostwriter, the Westford Academy student newspaper, she said she "wanted to start a free event that celebrated the holidays in many ways."
The Regency held the event for years. The 14th annual festival ran there from December 6, 2024 to January 1, 2025, with an opening night on December 6. Items went up for silent auction, the full winning bid went to whoever entered the item, and entrants could choose to donate their proceeds to Westford Remembers, according to the Westford Family Fun Fest page. WestfordCAT reported that the displays stayed up through January 2 that season.
In October 2025, WestfordCAT reported that the Regency would close in December and lay off all 62 of its employees, effective December 19. The hotel's parent company, Empire Hospitality LLC, was finalizing a sale of the property to the development firm Redgate at the time.
That made the 15th festival, held December 6 through 14, 2025, the last large event at the Regency. It ran about a week, much shorter than the month-long display the year before. The Westford Rotary Club, Roudenbush Community Center and the Regency sponsored it. The Ghostwriter also reported that organizers planned to keep the festival going at several locations once the hotel closed.
Where the trees are this year
The 2026 listing from Roudenbush Community Center, which is on Main Street, describes these as new viewing locations, and each one has a different part of the festival.
| Venue | Address | What's on display | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westford Museum | 2 Boston Road | Trees, wreaths and more | Westford Center, across Boston Road from the Common |
| First Parish Church United | 48 Main Street | Christmas concert and holiday decor sale | On the Common, next to the library |
| Parish Center for the Arts | Lincoln Street | Musical entertainment | Westford Center |
| Good Pickin Farm | 5 Gould Road | Nutcrackers and an art exhibit | Just off Route 40 |
The trees and wreaths are in the museum. The concert and the decor sale are at the church on the Common. The music is at the arts center on Lincoln Street. If you parked once in the center, you could reach three of the four on foot, which was never possible when everything was in one hotel by the highway. Good Pickin Farm is the only stop that needs a drive, and it has its own part of the show.
Hours will differ from venue to venue, and organizers are posting updates on the Westford Family Fun Fest Facebook page. Entries are open to residents and businesses again. Roudenbush is inviting decorated trees, wreaths, gingerbread, gnomes and cultural decorations, and says registration details are still to come.
November already runs through these buildings
What makes this move easy is that the same buildings already host much of Westford's November. Here is the month as currently posted, starting the day after this post goes up.
- Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m. A Comedy Showcase hosted by Jeanne DeRosa at the Parish Center for the Arts, according to the WestfordCAT events calendar.
- Saturday, November 7, 5 and 6 p.m. seatings. The Annual Harvest Supper at the United Methodist Church of Westford, 10 Church Street.
- Tuesday, November 10, 4 to 5 p.m. "Who's Watching You? Owls of the World" with Eyes On Owls, a J.V. Fletcher Library program held in the Abbot Elementary School gym at 25 Depot Street.
- Saturday, November 14, 2 to 4 p.m. The Friends of the J.V. Fletcher Library annual meeting with local author Meg Mitchell Moore at First Parish Church United. It is open to the public.
- Sunday, November 15, 1:30 to 3 p.m. A book launch listed as an open house at the Westford Museum.
- Tuesday, November 17, 6 to 7:30 p.m. A library Talk & Tour at MIT Haystack Observatory, 99 Millstone Road.
- Saturday, November 28, 3 to 6 p.m. The Farm Festival of Light at Good Pickin Farm.
- Monday, November 30, 1 to 1:45 p.m. A Family Music Concert with Sulinha's Trio at First Parish Church United, on the festival's second day.
Count the addresses. First Parish has two events this month and the Parish Center for the Arts has one. The museum's open house is just across Boston Road from the church. Before the festival opens, the Common area is already the town's busiest spot this month, and from November 29 the trees join it.
The farm opens the season a night early
The one stop away from the center also has the earliest date. Good Pickin Farm's Farm Festival of Light runs Saturday, November 28, from 3 to 6 p.m., the evening before the Festival of Trees opens. The farm says tickets are coming soon. Once the festival starts, the farm's nutcrackers and art exhibit make it a second reason to drive out to Gould Road during December.
So the season has two starting points this year. Saturday evening it begins at a farm off Route 40, and Sunday it moves to the buildings around the Common.
Decorating at home, and December at the arts center
Westford houses joined the season before the trees did. Roudenbush's Holiday House Decorating Contest opened on Sunday, November 1, and any house in town can enter, from classic charm to "over-the-top sparkle," as the listing puts it.
The Parish Center for the Arts is also busy in December apart from its festival role. Its Thursday Sing & Jam nights run all month, starting at 7 p.m., for $5, according to the WestfordCAT venue listing. South Asian Karaoke is on the arts center's community events page for Friday, December 4, from 7 to 10 p.m. If you come for the festival's music on a Thursday evening, a jam session may be going on in the same building.
As for the old venue, the Westford Regency's website now says the hotel is closed. The trees are on Boston Road, Main Street and Lincoln Street this year, a few steps from the library and the Common.
Here at Plunkett Properties, we've been part of this corner of Massachusetts for three generations, and a tradition finding a new home matters to us. If you're entering a tree or wreath this year, or simply planning a December walk around Westford Center, we'd be glad to hear what you think of the new layout. Contact Us any time, about the festival or anything else on your mind in town.
