MEXICO – The overwhelming aroma of Christmas – balsam fir – assaulted one’s nose most pleasantly Friday at Todd’s Discount on Route 17 in Mexico.
The heady fragrance emanated from several cut balsams lining a bank and store wall, waiting for the inevitable rush of families. The two biggest weekends for Christmas tree sales are this weekend and next.
That smell is a big factor in Christmas tree sales, said Russell Black of Wilton, Walter Gooley of Farmington and Nancy Dunn of Denmark.
All three grow and sell Christmas trees, either already cut or cut-your-own.
“A lot of people just have to have that balsam fir smell,” said Black on Friday at his Black Acres Farm off Munson Road.
“Fragrance makes the difference, that and needle retention,” Gooley said Friday at Conifers Unlimited off the New Vineyard Road.
Black sells balsams, specializing in wreathes, kissing balls and garlands, but Gooley, a former Maine legislator, sells balsam, scotch pine, white pine and blue spruce.
“Needle retention is very good on all the trees,” he added.
Dunn and her husband, Raymond, own and operate the Denmark Christmas Tree Plantation in Denmark. But they’re not open, because they’ve sold out of 6- to 9-foot-tall trees.
“We didn’t plant as many as we should have,” Nancy Dunn said Friday.
Another Maine Christmas tree farmer, Dave Rice of Rice’s Tree Farm in Durham, said it takes from eight to 10 years to grow an 8-foot-tall Christmas tree.
That’s why a tree farmer must plan for a market that’s 10 years into the future, said Rice, who is also a director with the Maine Christmas Tree Association.
“The faint of heart should not get involved in growing Christmas trees. We bought this place in 1992, and it was kind of run-down then, but for two people in retirement, it’s a major undertaking,” Nancy Dunn said.
Christmas tree farmer Howell McClure of Kingfield agreed.
He and his wife, Linda, have owned and operated McClure’s Tree Nursery in Kingfield for 35 years, selling cut and cut-your-own balsam, blue spruce and Fraser fir, from small to 30 feet tall.
Price is a factor
Besides smell and needle retention, another factor is price.
Typically, Rice said, it costs more to buy a tree in southern Maine than in the northern half, because of supply and demand.
“Trees are more expensive the farther south you go,” he said.
Rice sells his balsams for $30, tax included, regardless of size.
Black’s average $22 for a 6- to 7-footer; Gooley’s range from $18 to $25 at his farm and from $5 to $50 at his retail stand; and a 6-footer at McClure’s costs $15.
At Pleasant Tree Acres in Rangeley, Mark and Marie Beauregard sell 6- to 9-foot cut-your-own balsams for around $25 each; cut trees cost around $30.
Christmas tree farmer Joe Young of Fayette sells his balsam, blue spruce and scotch pine trees at $3 a foot.
Return to roots
Each of the tree farmers contacted Friday said more and more people annually are returning to traditional roots, buying real Christmas trees.
“After 9/11, we definitely started to see people go back to the old way of doing things. I think people started to realize how fragile life is,” Nancy Dunn said.
Rice agreed, adding, “People are trying to get back to the traditional family gathering.”
But, he said, the “Fake vs. Real” marketing campaign by the National Christmas Tree Association is also a factor.
“A plastic fake tree goes to the dump and stays there forever, but a real tree can get chipped up and put back into the ground,” he said.
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