Christmas tree sales in P.E.I. earlier than normal, say growers

More Islanders are picking out or buying their Christmas trees earlier this year, growers say.

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"Most years in the past we would sell one or two trees in very late November, the 29th or 30th rarely would it be any more than that," said Sid Watts from Watts Tree Farm in Kilmuir, P.E.I.

This year the farm sold more than a dozen trees in November.

"People just seem to be pushing more and more toward a little bit more early interest in getting Christmas started," Watts said.

Mike Kelly at Kelly's Christmas Tree Farm in Fort Augustus, P.E.I., is also surprised how quickly sales picked up this year, noting he had a few sales last week and an unusually busy weekend.

'Right to the lot'

More people have also come to Kelly's farm to pick out their tree and tag it Kelly saidbetween double and triple the usual number. He's not sure why, but he believes perhaps more people are choosing natural trees over artificial ones, and also that families are making an outing of picking their tree.

Pre-selecting trees has also brought about 20 per cent more customers than other years to Watts' farm.

"We have a lot of new customers and a lot of them are younger," noted Watts. "Perhaps they're more interested in the visit to the tree, right to the lot."

Tree farmers expect the coming weekend of tree sales to likely be their busiest of the year.

A fresh-cut tree kept in water should hold up indoors for at least three weeks, Watts said.

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