Christmas Tree Farms Open
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It is a Christmas tradition for many families across West Tennessee. They visit Christmas tree farms, starting on Black Friday, to pick out the perfect tree. Brian and Kasey Jackson drove all the way from Memphis to let their children choose a Christmas tree for the first time. It is a tradition, Kasey said, she grew up with. “We came probably for 10,15 years when we were younger, and then moved away, started our own family. We decided we wanted the kids to have that experience,” Jackson said. And Jackson is not the only one. Dozens of other families were picking out their trees right after Thanksgiving. “There have been some people who have been coming out here since before we had the cabin,” said Emily Knight, a Ward Grove Christmas Tree Farm employee. “There are people who have come out here for 15, almost 20 years now.” It is a year-round process for Knight’s family to prepare for the holiday season. They start selling trees the day after Thanksgiving through the weekend before Christmas. She said it takes between five and eight years to grow a Christmas tree people will buy, and then they have to sheer the trees in the summer to keep their shape. But she said all of the work is worth it. “Everybody has their own tree that they like and everybody’s free to look at as many trees as you want,” Knight said. “If you come out here at 8 in the morning and you stay ’til 1 o’clock in the afternoon, no one’s going to stop you, so you look ’til you’re happy.” Jeanne Foster’s favorite part about the Christmas tree farm is the family atmosphere. She said it is how her family kicks off the Christmas season. “We don’t have anything in our house up yet because we can’t start until we have our Christmas tree,” Foster said. And the tradition will live on for years to come.
