NOVEMBER 26, 2009 ISSUE
Tis the Busy Season for the N.C. Christmas Tree Association
From Our Home to Yours—Workers carry the High Country’s winter cash crop from a lot adjacent to Mabel Elementary School this week. The trees represent the hard work of Paul and Mark Smith and their Christmas tree farm, Cool Springs Nursery. Photo by Peter Morris 
Jennifer Greene (above), the new executive director of the N.C. Christmas Tree Association, will help local tree growers—such as Paul and Mark Smith of Cool Springs Nursery (below)—survive and thrive as they do business in the 21st century. Below photo by Peter Morris The North Carolina Christmas Tree Association (NCCTA) has much to celebrate this season: a vivacious new director, a substantial federal grant, 50 years of service and a growing Choose and Cut program.
Under the guidance of Linda Gragg, the retiring executive director of NCCTA, and the tutelage of Associate Director Julie Hayes, the association’s new Executive Director Jennifer Greene, originally of Meat Camp, studiously said that there is a lot to learn.
“I want to help educate the people about the industry. It’s a big part of the local environment that shouldn’t be taken for granted,” Greene said. “We need to preserve what we have.”
Chosen because of her past experience in the hospitality business, Gragg praised Greene, “Jennifer has energy, enthusiasm, great office skills, marketing experience and contacts all across the High Country.”
Five Avery County residents founded the association—a nonprofit that makes and receives grants—in 1959. It operates with a $200,000 annual budget and has approximately 400 members from across the country. The majority of members are from North Carolina, and many are from the High Country. One of the founding charter members, Herman Dellinger, still resides in Avery County.
Greene is taking the helm at an opportune time. The United States Department of Agriculture recently granted NCCTA a two-year $60,000 grant to promote the North Carolina Frazier Fir. Perhaps the new infusion of marketing funds can help High Country Christmas tree growers weather the stressed economy and present abundant supply.
Gragg said that the association fully expects as many trees to be sold this year as last year, but she did allude to the problem of too many trees being on the market.
“The general consensus at the Southeastern Christmas Show was that people were going to purchase a real Christmas tree this season, they just might not put as much under it,” she said.
Without question, the association’s Choose and Cut Christmas tree program enjoys the most visibility of NCCTA’s work in the High Country, but behind the scenes the association assists growers on many fronts. Of significance, NCCTA accepts applications from scientists and awards grants to eradicate phytophthora, a root rot disease impairing the Frazier Fur. Gragg is hopeful that ongoing research and investigation, which includes grafting resilient evergreens with the Frazier Fur, offers promise.
All three staff excitedly shared a new venture of the association. Having recognized the growing impact of social media, they have launched a new Facebook page. “Facebook members can get involved with us,” Greene said. “On Facebook, go to North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.”
Greene is also the state coordinator of the national Christmas Spirit Foundation’s Trees for Troops program. Nationally, about 17,000 real Christmas trees will be donated to the families of troops serving at home and abroad including Afghanistan and Iraq. In the High Country, Greene expects 1,500 trees to be contributed by local growers. A staging celebration to gather and ship the trees will take place in Ashe County at the Cline Church Nursery on December 2.
One might say that it ‘Tis the season to be busy at the association headquartered on George Wilson Road in Boone.’ On November 30, Greene travels to Raleigh to assist in presenting Gov. Beverly Purdue the state’s grand champion Christmas tree and wreath. Beau Estes of Ashe County garnered the award for the tree and Tommy Naylor of Benson won the wreath prize.
“Selecting a winning tree is like judging a diamond,” Gragg said. Taper, color, density and overall visual appeal are the guiding standards used in the annual contest.
Gragg went on to say that she has precious memories to take into retirement, including several visits to the White House to present a North Carolina Frazier Fur to past presidents.
Branding the Frazier Fur as the North Carolina Frazier Fur is the enduring marketing legacy of the retiring Gragg.
The association’s annual, growing Choose and Cut Program is underway all across the High Country. For more information, click to www.highcountrypress.com/weekly/2009/11-12-09/choose-and-cut-christmas-tree.htm or www.ncchristmastrees.com/ and http://chooseandcutfestival.com/.
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