Tree sales bring holiday cheer

Christmas tree farmers faced lackluster sales in 2008, but sales of pines and firs are ringing in the season this year.

"I'm just about sold of everything I've got," said Alvin Kittle, owner of Kittle Christmas Tree Farm in Ringgold, Ga. "Right now, they're cutting trees I wanted for next year."

Tree farms are thriving this year, local farmers say.

"Our season here at our farm has been the best ever," said Art Landrigan, owner of Arcy Acres Christmas Tree Farm and Nursery in Pikeville, Tenn. "It's a 40 percent increase over last year."

Last holiday season, farmers experienced a 14 percent decline in Christmas tree spending nationally, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.

But before this year's season began, the organization projected a busy one for tree farmers after a poll early in the year showed about 35 percent of families planned to buy a farm-grown Christmas tree.

Farmers came into this season "with a cautious optimism," said Rick Dungey, a National Christmas Tree Association spokesman.

The first two weekends of tree sales this year have been strong throughout the nation, which means more families are choosing homegrown trees, Mr. Dungey said.

Mike Ryan, of Chattanooga, took his fiancee, Christi Bailey, and her two sons to buy their first real Christmas tree Saturday.

"They smell better," Mr. Ryan said, compared with an artificial tree.

"That's a part of Christmas" that everyone needs to experience, he said while smiling at Ms. Bailey. She said her youngest son, Blake, 12, is excited to decorate his first fresh-cut tree.

Local farmers say this year's sales offer encouraging news for the industry.

"I think the economy has taught people to realize they should do more with their family," said Mr. Landrigan, who also is president of the Tennessee Growers Association.

He said he has overheard customers talking about switching back to a traditional Christmas tree after using an artificial one.

More online advertising also is contributing to higher sales, he said.

"The Tennessee Growers Association has a very large Internet presence that has become the foremost way to find Christmas tree farms," he said.

The Web site for Mr. Landrigan's farm has received more than 100 hits a day and more than 2,000 page views in less than 30 days, he said.

At Parish Christmas Tree Farm in Benton, Tenn., sales have picked up each year for the last three years, said owner Patricia Parish.

Much of the growth in her customers comes from word of mouth, as families start a tradition and tell other people, said Ms. Parish, who owns 8.2 acres of trees.

Keeping customers coming back is a key in the Christmas tree business, tree farmers said.

"Seventy-five percent of my business is repeat customers," Mr. Kittle said. "That's why what we try to sell is a family experience."

Many of his customers first came to his farm as children and now are bringing their children, he said.