By Clint Thompson
It’s the middle of November which means it’s Christmas tree season for Alabama farms and holiday enthusiasts.
For one Christmas tree farm, they expect to see a continued trend of bigger trees get sold this holiday season. Steve Mannhard, with Fish River Farms in Baldwin County, Alabama, talked about the trend of shopping for trees that are in the 8-to-12-foot range.
“We have sold more of them over the last 10 to 20 years, and the reason is the homes that are being built, they have these larger ceilings,” Mannhard said. “When we were younger, the ceilings in everybody’s houses were eight foot, and that was it. They didn’t have these big, old cathedral ceilings. But these homes now that are being built, these living rooms, they have these taller ceilings in a lot of them. Therefore, there’s a bigger demand for a bigger tree. A little bitty tree in the living room, you don’t see it hardly.”
Mannhard’s big Christmas trees will be on display when Fish River Farms officially opens on Saturday, Nov. 22, almost a week ahead of Thanksgiving Day. That’s another trend that has changed Christmas tree season for farmers and homeowners.
“I resisted opening up before Thanksgiving for years and years, but the trend in Christmas trees has changed a lot in terms of when people want their trees. When I was a kid, people didn’t get their trees until right before Christmas,” he said. “That week or two before Christmas is when they bought their tree. Now it’s more of a Thanksgiving deal. Thanksgiving weekend is far and away our busiest weekend, and that’s a month out from Christmas. Now, more and more families want to be putting up and decorating their Christmas tree all the way from Thanksgiving up to Christmas.
“At Thanksgiving itself when the family is there and all of that, then they put it up and decorate it. Then they’re coming before Thanksgiving to get the tree.”