Christmas Tree Sales Surge

One bit of good news ended our pandemic year. Sales of live Christmas trees on Lion lots were brisk as families looked for safe outdoor holiday activities and ways to keep spirits up. For the Lions clubs with tree lots, more sales means more money for community projects in 2021.

According to the Michigan Christmas Tree Association, Michigan tree farmers saw as much as a 50 percent increase in their sales of Christmas trees this year.

The Dexter Lions in Michigan were among them. “Sales were at record levels,” says Dexter club president Jamey Lobdell. “We have been selling Christmas Trees here in Dexter for 40 years.  Our club started in 1980, in front of a local gas station, with 285 trees.”

This year’s sales at the Dexter club’s lot included 1,240 Christmas trees, 150 wreaths, and 3,000 feet of pine roping, and it was quick.

In Maryland, the Bowie Lions Club sold all of its trees in 13 days, something that’s never happened before, Lion Karl Taschenberge told the Baltimore Sun. Taschenberge, the chairman of the tree lot, said they started selling trees the Sunday before Thanksgiving and were selling 20 to 30 trees a day.

The same good news extended across the country. From West Virginia, to Illinois and beyond, Lions reported that trees disappeared in the wink of an eye.

The COVID-19 pandemic curtailed many holiday traditions, but as the Worth Lions in Illinois said, it wouldn’t stop them from selling Christmas trees — something they have been doing to raise money for charitable causes for more than 60 years.