From the day after Thanksgiving, which most people consider Black Friday, up until Christmas is celebrated, there is a unique phenomenon that takes place. People begin picking out their Christmas tree, but this year is different. We are living in the midst of a pandemic, so families are altering the way that they celebrate Christmas. It hasn’t stopped them, however, from wanting a live Christmas tree.
2020 has been an unusual year, and to add on top of everything that has changed, we are now dealing with a national tree shortage. Even though that is the case, it seems as if many feel as if Christmas is shaping up to be somewhat normal in the midst of all of the craziness.
On Black Friday, stores are often packed and people line up for hours on end to get some of the latest bargains. This year, the bargains seem to be at the farmers market, including the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville, North Carolina. Even Santa was there, although he was behind Plexiglas and people were busy scurrying about, trying to pick out the perfect tree.
According to WLOS, one visitor, Molly Cashman, shared that Thanksgiving seemed to come a little late this year and they were ready to get right into the Christmas season. Another visitor agrees, saying that Christmas will continue, “mask or not.”
Although there is a 2020 tree shortage, which most of us would expect, it wasn’t caused by the pandemic. It seems as if the shortage of Christmas trees this year has its roots in the 2008 great recession. As a result of the shortage, it is “what you see is what you get” and many vendors will not be able to replenish their lot once the inventory is sold out.
WOLS reported that one of the vendors, Brad Fountain, said that the 2008 recession made it more difficult to get saplings, and nurseries were going under. Another tree farm owner, Keith Hoilman, feels that there is still another six years of catching up before they are back to normal because trees weren’t replanted during the difficult years.
Although things seemed to slow down and some farmers were aging out and tree farms were folding, it didn’t stop the visitors to the farmers market from being enthusiastic about getting the perfect tree. One young son could even be seen jumping up and down because they had found the perfect size tree.
Things may be different in 2020, but people are looking for a little bit of normal in the middle of all of the chaos. It seems as if a Christmas tree may hold the key to getting that nostalgic Christmas feeling that we all desire.