With turkey day over, Christmas tree vendors welcome their devoted fans
MANATEE -- On Friday, diehard fans turned out to buy Christmas trees at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County tree sale on Manatee Avenue West near 43rd Street West, David Bird's Alpine Christmas Trees near State Road 64 at Interstate 75, and the Palmetto Meat Shop tree sale at 1810 10th St. W, Palmetto.
Some said they would buy from none other.
Loyalty to a favorite Christmas tree lot in Manatee County seems to be on a par with loyalty to a Florida college football team.
"This is our family tradition that goes back generations," Robert Burroughs explained when asked why his son from Orlando, Kevin, daughter-in-law, Kelly, granddaughter, Ruby, 4, as well as wife, Diane, and twin 18-year-olds, Ryan and Haley, would all be in attendance Friday to purchase a tree at the 60th annual Boys & Girls Club sale near Jessie P. Miller Elementary School.
"The smallest gets to pick out the tree every year," Diane said, pointing Ruby toward the majestic, aromatic Fraser firs.
Lots of local tree vendors
These three lots were chosen randomly. Numerous other Christmas tree vendors throughout Manatee County were tying rees onto the roofs of their customer's vehicles Friday.
Not far away, however, Louis Cruz and his wife, Giselle Ucciferri, who moved from New York City to Lakewood Ranch's Central Park in July, had made a beeline to Alpine Christmas Trees, 702 60th St. Ct. E., Bradenton, on the recommendation of their neighbor, Sarasota
dentist Peter Engelsberg.
"Peter told us Alpine has the best trees," Ucciferri said.
And across the Green Bridge, Joe and Nancy Davis were eagerly pointing out the attributes of Premier Lawn and Landscape Christmas trees, 1810 10th St. W, Palmetto, owned by Clint and Nicole Hrabal, who also own Palmetto Meat Shop.
"The Hrabal's trees are so fresh the needles don't shed right through Christmas," Nancy Davis said.
Some sell for charities, others for profit
The 60th Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County sale of trees obtained from North Carolina is to help a not-for-profit operate children's programs, said Dawn Stanhope, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs.
"All the money taken in goes to provide after-school programs for children," she said.
The sale is noon to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 9 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays until the trees run out.
"We have 470 trees on the ground now and will have 400 more next Friday," Stanhope said. "We keep them in refrigerated trucks to keep them fresh," Stanhope added.
The Boys & Girls Clubs' tree prices range from $25 for a 3- or 4-foot tree to $300 for a 14-footer.
Alpine will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, said owner David Bird.
"This is my seasonal business," Bird said. "I've been at this location nine years, but in Bradenton 15 years."
Bird will bring 1,000 trees from North Carolina. He said what keeps customers coming back is the exceptional freshness of his trees. "I used to grow trees so I know the importance of getting them here within a week of being harvested," Bird said. "All of our trees are displayed in bases containing water."
Alpine has premium, No. 1 grade and No. 2 grade trees. The trees sell from $6 per foot for No. 2 grade all the way up to $10 a foot for premium grade, Bird said.
Clint Hrabal journeys to North Carolina to get the trees for his business, Premier Lawn & Landscape Christmas trees. Hrabal's trees sell from $65 to $150. The tree stand is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily until the trees are all gone, Nicole Hrabal said.
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.
This story was originally published November 29, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "With turkey day over, Christmas tree vendors welcome their devoted fans ."