SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 ISSUE
N.C. Christmas Tree Association Celebrates 50 Years
The North Carolina Christmas Tree Association (NCCTA), headquartered in Boone, will host its 50th anniversary celebration from this Thursday to Saturday, September 24 to 26, in Boone.
The celebration’s opening reception Thursday at La Quinta Inn in Boone will take place from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Other events on Friday and Saturday are ticketed and those interested in attending should call 828-262-5826 to find out if any tickets are available. Friday’s events run from 8:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. at Boone United Methodist Church and feature NCCTA and Eastern North Carolina Christmas Tree Growers’ Association (ENCCTGA) business meetings, as well as an educational meeting. A $55 ticket includes lunch and all the meetings.
A dinner and social on Friday night will be held at Appalachian Ski Mountain from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. and costs $35. At this event, growers who are long-time NCCTA members will respond to questions, discussing the growth and development of the organization, growing practices and more, said NCCTA Director Linda Gragg.
A tour of three NCCTA members’ Christmas tree farms in Watauga County will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and costs $35. The tour will include growers discussing some of their practices, such as shearing and ground cover management, Gragg said.
“A time of remembrance and celebration is what all [the events] will be about,” Gragg said.
The NCCTA has about 350 members, Gragg said, adding that members are located across the state, with the bulk in the western N.C. mountains.
The benefits for Christmas tree growers who join the NCCTA are numerous. “If they have trees to sell, [their farm] is readily visible on our website,” Gragg said. “Our web usage has tripled in the last two to three years.”
Additionally, the NCCTA prints Limbs & Needles, a quarterly magazine distributed to member growers that contains the latest research and industry trends, she said. The NCCTA also prints a wholesale buy-sell guide and a choose-and-cut guide to member farms that lists the types and sizes of trees sold at the various farms.
The growers who are members of the NCCTA “are very environment-oriented,” Gragg said. “They sell a beautiful tree and it brings a lot of money into the North Carolina economy.”
In terms of trees harvested, North Carolina ranks second in the U.S. behind Oregon, but “we are the Fraser fir capital,” Gragg said, adding that another type of tree is popular in Oregon.
Last year, 5.5 million Christmas trees were harvested and sold in North Carolina, Gragg said, adding that more than 95 percent of those were Fraser firs.
“It’s a native tree to North Carolina, so it grows better here,” Gragg said. “Pennsylvania, Michigan and some other states are starting to grow [Fraser firs] but it takes them a little longer because they aren’t native [to those states].”
About 1,500 to 1,600 Christmas tree growers tending more than 25,000 acres operate in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture.
About 60 percent of the growers have fewer than 10 acres, “so for some, it’s not cost-effective to join an organization like ours,” Gragg said.
The Choose-and-Cut Christmas tree season generally runs from Thanksgiving weekend until December; up until Christmas Eve for some growers, Gragg said.
Thanksgiving weekend is historically the biggest sales weekend for trees, she added.
“It’s a family tradition,” Gragg said of picking out Christmas trees. “Some farms have Christmas rides, Santa Claus or a marshmallow roast. It’s a family experience. The economy is very bad, but when I talk to consumers, they say we are going to have that family time and go and get our tree.”
For more information, call 828-262-5826 or click to www.ncchristmastrees.com.
Want To Go?
Date: 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Time: Thursday, September 24
Location: La Quinta Inn, Boone
Cost: Free
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