The WNY Christmas Tree Farmers Association (WNYCTFA) tells 7 Eyewitness News that it is seeing greater demand than it ever has. "Yeah, it is kind of surprising. We didn't know what to expect going into this year," said John Blasz, president of the association.
Blasz said smaller tree farms have sold out with larger farms continuing to harvest trees in hopes of keeping up with customer demand.
Farms that are selling out are doing so more than a week earlier than they would in the past.
"I think it gets people thinking a little differently," commented Blasz about the pandemic's effect on sales.
Christmas tree farmer Ken Lindstrom in Hamburg said he is selling 30 to 40 more trees per day than normal.
"I think with the COVID, they want to have some kind of normal life. And celebrating Christmas is a little bit of normality," added Lindstrom, who has been selling Christmas trees for 30 years.
Lindstrom said many of his regular customers came in for a tree earlier than expected. That rush combined with a surge of new customers is keeping the 63-year-old tree farmer busy as he operates 7 days a week from 9 am to 8 pm.
"I am getting a little tired," laughed Lindstrom, who said he is committed to selling well-trimmed, fresh trees. "I will try to serve as many people as possible."
The Hamburg tree farmer said locally grown trees are fresher because they were cut when the tree was "sleeping" in the cold weather. He cautions that many trees shipped-in from other parts of the country are cut as early as October when the tree is not dormant.
Where can you get a locally grown real Christmas tree?
Pickyourownchristmastree.org has listings for Niagara and Chautauqua Counties. Click here to see.
