CT groundskeeper winds down 30-year side job selling trees
MILFORD — After three decades of selling Christmas trees, Mark Bernard has decided this season will be his last.
Bernard, the groundskeeper at Jonathan Law High School, begins his final sales season Sunday at 7:30 a.m. with 760 Christmas trees available for purchase. For the past three decades he has sold Christmas trees from the parking lot of The Sundae House on 499 New Haven Ave.
“We have been buying Christmas trees and wreaths from Mark for at least 20 years or more,” Samantha Ives, a Milford resident, said. “Mark has been buddies with my father, Larry Ives, for years as well, and we’ve had nothing but A-plus service from Mark. A Bernard Christmas tree has always been a staple in our home.”
Bernard said 40 years ago, he started working at Sid Farmers Market and across the street, there used to be a Hess Gas Station where they used to sell Christmas trees.
“We sold them out of there, and we used to sell them from The Ship’s Wheel, an old Milford drivein when I was a kid,” he said. “While I was working at the Farmers Market, the owner gave up the Christmas Tree business, and I took it over.
“I love doing it ... some guys have been selling with me for years, and they love doing it,” Bernard said. “But we are getting up there in age, and the trees get heavier and heavier as we get older.”
As years went by, Bernard said he would see parents come with their children to buy trees, and when the children got older and started their families, they would come and buy trees from him.
“Three decades, you know,” he said. “We delivered to most of Milford, and sometimes they say why do you know where I live, and I say, ‘well we’ve been delivering trees for the same house for 30 years. I never forget a face.’”
Jerry Pia, a Milford resident, said he’s been purchasing Christmas trees from Bernard since he moved to Milford in 2013.
“My kids associate that trip to Sundae House and Mark with the start of the Christmas season, and my experience has been great,” he said. “Mark always took good care of us, cut it, put it on the car and always welcomed us when we got there by saying things like how tall the kids have gotten.”
Pia said friends would tell him to cut his tree because it has gotten more popular, but his family always wanted to go to The Sundae House because it was their Christmas tradition.
“Christmas will be different for us without Mark,” he said. “But we wish him the best.”
Bernard gets his trees from Canada, which he says are the best trees around, but the price for the trees has gone up, and he’s always tried to sell them at a fair price.
“This year, it took me forever to get tries, but I finally got them,” he said. “I usually pay for them in August, but I didn’t get them until October. I kept on calling and calling, and I finally got trees.”
The main reason he said he wasn’t able to get the trees was because the prices were getting too high.
“My vendor from last year was able to get someone for me,” he said. “When I talked to him, he told me he would give me some trees because I had done business with other sellers before and because I pay on time.”
Bernard always looks to get premium trees, and one of the sellers who he was dealing with was selling him premium trees and Number 1s for the same price.
“Number 1s are ugly trees, they may have some holes on one side or other blemishes, and premium trees are a perfect tree and are nice and round, and people are always looking for premium trees,” he said.
As the years have gone by, Bernard said he has started to cut back the number of trees that he has ordered.
“I used to get a truckload every time, but I started cutting back because when I started, there was no Lowe’s, Walmart and Saint Mary’s wasn’t doing it,” he said. “There were not a lot of places that were selling trees.”
Bernard said the grower, who he’s been working with for years, sold his trees to a larger company, and the prices went up.
“All the customers I dealt with, they were always good to me, but they just sold to bigger companies,” he said. “I think they wanted to get out too.”
One of the main reasons why Bernard decided this Christmas season would be his last was because the prices are getting too high.
“The prices are getting out of control, and the freights are getting out of control,” he said. “If I could get trees cheaper, I would. I even called New Hampshire, and Vermont and I couldn’t get them from there either.”
However, if the prices of trees would come down, Bernard said he wouldn’t come back.
“When we get, older we can’t deal with the cold anymore,” he said jokingly. “I’ve been doing it for so long, and I’m just done.”
As people were finding out this would be Bernard’s final year, he said many people have been telling him they are going to miss him.
“Some of the messages I’ve gotten are like where are we going to get our trees from now, you have the best trees in town, and some have said they’ve been coming to me for years,” said Bernard. “I’ve seen people come in here that were almost like family, and I would sell them trees.”
“I might have someone take it over if they want to buy my camper and my lights, but it’s not easy,” he added. “I work my full-time job, as a groundkeeper at Jonathan Law High School, so I do this because I like it and I like dealing with people. Customers would bring us cookies, hot chocolate. I’m going to miss all of it.”’