Boys & Girls Clubs opens 63rd annual Christmas tree lot to benefit children in Bradenton

“It’s tradition.”

That’s what scores of families repeated as they searched for the perfect Christmas tree at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County’s annual Christmas Tree Lot on Friday.

The organization’s Christmas tree sale, now in its 63rd year, opened the day after Thanksgiving at the lot in McKelvey Park, next to Jessie P. Miller Elementary School in Bradenton.

The lot will be open until Dec. 20, unless they sell out first.

Jan Pullen, who is the Head of School at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School, said she and her family have chosen a tree from the lot every year for more than a decade.

“We have gotten our trees here for the past 13 years,” Pullen said as her granddaughters Paige, 6, and Grace, 5, smile up at the fir they picked out moments before. “Ever since I’ve lived here, this is the place to go.”

All money made at the lot will go directly to the county’s Boys & Girls Clubs, which serves more than 4,000 children. The club hopes to raise between $35,000 and $40,000 through the annual event, said Chief Operating Officer Beth Clark. Santa Claus is also expected to make an appearance at the tree lot on Dec. 2 and 9, organizers said.

Among the early Christmas-tree shoppers was former Manatee Sheriff Brad Steube, who retired in January 2017 after 10 years as sheriff and a long career with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Steube and his wife, Debbie, have gotten their Christmas tree from the club’s lot for years. Steube helped sell them at one time, too.

“It’s important to support the community and the children in the community,” Debbie Steube said. “We wouldn’t buy a Christmas tree from anywhere else.”

“We have been supporting the club since I was a kid, it’s something we’ve been doing for 55 years,” Brad Steube said. “It’s tradition.”

But with this season comes a national Christmas tree shortage, making operations difficult for sellers across the country. The shortage is partially due to the 2008 economic recession.

It takes around seven years for a tree to grow, and the recession forced some Christmas tree farms to temporarily scale back production. That, coupled with an increasing demand from customers, has made the task of getting trees difficult.

And while procuring the trees hasn’t been as easy as years past, Clark said, they are making due.

“It’s been a little tough, getting the trees,”Clark said, “But we already had our order in a while back, so we got 552 on our first order and we have 480 more coming next week, so it worked out.”

Willie Cooper, who has been with the organization for 35 years and now serves as its community relations director, said the annual event is one of the most important for the club.

“The donation benefits so many kids,” Cooper said. “And the money stays right here in Manatee. It doesn’t go anywhere else.”

The lot, located at 3913 Manatee Ave. W. in Bradenton, will be open from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from noon to 9 p.m. on Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Boys & Girls Clubs opens 63rd annual Christmas tree lot to benefit children in Bradenton."