The Maine Christmas Tree Association says the supply of holiday trees will be tight this year and the reason dates back to the Great Recession, in 2008.
Associated Press file
In this Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, ornaments hang on a Christmas tree on display in New York.
Christmas tree growers in Maine and around the world are seeing an unexpected boom in sales this year.
Maine Christmas Tree Association president Stephen Higgins says the demand for trees actually started before Thanksgiving, and many growers have sold out.
He says he suspects that the pandemic, which has been keeping families at home, has had a hand to play.
“I’m pretty sure that’s part of it. Along with this whole 2020 with our political situation. People are looking for something, a light at the end of the tunnel to make them feel good,” Higgins says.
Maine Christmas tree farms seeing record numbers of sales amid pandemic holiday season
Many Christmas Tree farms across the state have had to close early as trees sell out early, with farm owners theorizing that and more families than usual are looking to get out of the house together.
7 of 7
A man hauls a tree he cut at Ben and Molly s Christmas Tree Farm in China. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
Flo Clauson, owner of Ledge Hill Farm in Readfield, thought that she would sell out of Christmas trees her second weekend open.
“We were only open Saturday and Sunday (of last week) and when we opened on Saturday, we had the busiest day we have ever had since we have been open,” she said. “We had an unprecedented number of people at the farm.”