{"id":1506671,"date":"2024-12-08T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1506671"},"modified":"2024-12-08T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T07:00:00","slug":"the-hunt-for-the-best-christmas-tree-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/the-hunt-for-the-best-christmas-tree-ever\/1506671\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hunt For The Best Christmas Tree Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hunt For The Best Christmas Tree Ever<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Americans will buy at least 25 million fresh-cut Christmas trees this year<\/strong> but the best one of them\u2014the pinnacle in pine perfection\u2014is the 8-foot Fraser Fir from Laurel Springs,<\/strong> North Carolina, that sold for $145 about 12:30 p.m. Nov. 30 on a church lawn in Lakeland, Florida.<\/p>\n

A “sold” Christmas tree is seen at Tree Riders NYC in front of St. Mark\u2019s Church-in-the-Bowery in New York City on Dec. 14, 2023. Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

So decreed yule arborists Mason Hayes, 14, and his brother, Jackson, 11<\/strong>\u2014the specialists who found their perfect Christmas tree after an hour of foraging through Booger Mountain\u2019s trees<\/a> at Ardella Baptist Church on a sunny Saturday in central Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be fat\u2014no gaps at the top or the bottom<\/strong>,\u201d Mason said, rejecting one tree after another.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be skinny and have no gaps anywhere,<\/strong>\u201d Jackson said, tugging gently on branches to assess tree needle quality.<\/p>\n

Following her sons in the shifting sun-speckled shade of live oaks, Amy Hayes could only wait until the experts agreed on what tree would exude Christmas cheer through their living room windows for all the world to see.<\/p>\n

When they found it\u2014a fat and skinny fir without gaps but with tenaciously anchored needles\u2014they agreed it was \u201cThe One.\u201d<\/p>\n

At $145, it\u2019s expensive, Amy said, but The One is worth it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been coming here for five, six years,\u201d she said, noting she believes Booger Mountain\u2019s trees are better quality than those sold in parking lots by Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe\u2019s, and grocery chains.<\/p>\n

Booger\u2019s trees \u201clast longer, smell better,\u201d Amy said. \u201cAnd I like to support local small business when I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s small business with a big \u2018B,\u2019 according to the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), which projects<\/a> 100,000 seasonal workers will sell between 25 million and 30 million trees for a cumulative $1.38 billion in the United States during the 2024 holiday season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When including artificial trees, wreaths, lighting, and other accessories, the 2024 Christmas tree market projections<\/a> top $5.6 billion, according to Market Research Pulse and the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA), which primarily represents artificial tree retailers.<\/p>\n

Mason Hayes, 14, and his brother, Jackson, 11, ferret through a forest of fresh-cut firs from North Carolina for the perfect Christmas tree at Booger Mountain Christmas Trees at Ardella Baptist Church, in Lakeland, Fla., on Nov. 30, 2024. John Haughey\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

NCTA spokesperson Jill Sidebottom said 2024 is shaping up \u201clike a pretty normal season\u201d with a healthy tree crop ready for trimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2024 harvest across the country, in different places … there are issues,<\/strong>\u201d she told The Epoch Times. \u201cIt was very wet in the spring and it was a dry summer in the Northeast. That affected [trees] in Pennsylvania and Maine. In North Carolina, we had this storm and a lot of young trees died. But for the most part, the taller trees were not damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Carolina is second only to Oregon in Christmas tree production, according to the NCTA, followed by Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Washington.<\/p>\n

NCTA, which represents about 15,000 tree farms, 38 state and regional associations, and more than 4,000 businesses, selected a North Carolina Fraser Fir from a farm damaged by Hurricane Helene as the \u201cnational tree\u201d for the White House, Sidebottom said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great news is [North Carolina] trees came through, in most cases, in really great shape<\/strong>,\u201d Real Christmas Tree Board Executive Director Marsha Gray told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral farms in low-lying areas did receive a lot of damage,\u201d she said. \u201cThe majority are grown on the sides of mountains so the water was below them. [Growers] had some issues and concerns with infrastructure\u201d but roads and railways recovered rapidly.<\/p>\n

The Real Christmas Tree Board, which represents the industry before the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), surveys <\/a>growers nationwide every September to forecast supply for the coming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave us a very positive response,\u201d Gray said, noting that these growers sell two-thirds of Christmas trees bought across the United States. \u201cThe quality was good, no concerns with shipping, and 60 percent said they did not plan to raise wholesale prices this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are ready<\/strong>,\u201d she added, \u201cand we are excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing Christmas trees are seen in high water from flooding of the New River in Ashe County, N.C., on Sept. 27, 2024. Melissa Sue Gerrits\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Industry in Transition<\/h2>\n

The biggest issue with the 2024 holiday season is the calendar, Sidebottom said. \u201cThe oddest thing about this season is Thanksgiving is so late this year. A lot more places opened the weekend before Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of the industry faces potential disruption from tariffs if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with proposed levies on imported goods, including from Canada, which produces nearly 30 percent of Christmas trees sold in the United States, and from the same corporate pressures that are driving independents and family-run farms out of the agriculture industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh gosh, I have no idea\u201d how tariffs could affect tree prices next year,<\/strong> Sidebottom said. \u201cWe have a group from Canada that is part of our association and are represented on the [USDA] board. They\u2019ve been shipping trees since the 1950s.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray said the board is \u201cnot allowed to comment on public policy\u201d but noted that Trump\u2019s tariffs are on growers\u2019 minds. \u201cWe\u2019re all going to watch and see what happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rocco Malanga, owner<\/a> of Cedar Grove Christmas Trees, a South Florida tree wholesale distributor and retailer, had no such reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully support President Trump\u2019s proposal to shift toward a tariff-based economic system, which we believe will be transformative for the Christmas tree industry and countless other sectors,<\/strong>\u201d he told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

For years, he said, Canadian imports benefitted from the weaker Canadian dollar, allowing them to undercut U.S.-grown trees in price.<\/p>\n

\u201cA tariff on imported Christmas trees would help level the playing field, redirecting demand toward American growers and empowering local farms and businesses,<\/strong>\u201d Malanga said.<\/p>\n

Cedar Grove Christmas Trees has longstanding relationships with growers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, who have \u201cfaced some of their toughest years recently\u201d and would benefit from Trump\u2019s tariffs, he predicted.<\/p>\n

It will likely take more than tariffs for independent, family-owned growers to survive in a market increasingly dominated by corporations.<\/p>\n

Read the rest here…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 12\/07\/2024 – 21:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/commodities\/hunt-best-christmas-tree-ever<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hunt For The Best Christmas Tree Ever Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Americans will buy at least 25 million…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1506672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1506671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1506672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1506671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1506671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1506671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}