Branching out early
Natural Christmas tree sales high this year
Cape Bretoners were eager this year to make sure they had the perfect Christmas tree and the businesses that sold them were happy to oblige.
Kevin Elworthy of Elworthy’s Nature in Bloom Greenhouse and Tree Farm said the year started with well-prepared people making sure they were set for Christmas.
“Everything was earlier this year. It was probably about a week earlier when the main amount of trees went, so normally it’s the middle week (of December) that it’s the busiest, this year it was the first weekend,” said Elworthy, who has been helping with the tree farm owned by his father, Les Elworthy, for more than 35 years.
Elworthy said every year he enjoys watching the joy in children as they pick their perfect tree.
“You see the kids come and pick out the tree — whether it’s from the lot or the U-pick — it’s just good
“You see the kids come and pick out the tree — whether it’s from the lot or the U-pick — it’s just good to see the experience for them.”
Kevin Elworthy of Elworthy’s Nature in Bloom Greenhouse
to see the experience for them.”
Another tree farm that has had a great season is Aucoin’s Family Tree Farm. The farm is celebrating its 30th season in business and is flourishing this year.
Tom Aucoin, the son of the founder, the late Donald Aucoin said they also had an early rush.
“It started off really busy and basically maintained that until we closed. We’ve been in business for 30 years — I haven’t crunched all of the numbers yet — but if this isn’t our best year, it’s very close to our best year,” said Aucoin.
“We’re on social media more and we’ve had a lot of new costumers this year — we have our regulars who tag and buy trees, but we’ve had a lot of new names this year. I think social media gets your name out there and really helps spread it around.”
Both the Elworthy’s Nature in Bloom Greenhouse and Tree Farm and Aucoin’s Family Tree Farm are now closed.