The Hunt for the Best Christmas Tree Ever
A "sold" Christmas tree is seen at Tree Riders NYC in front of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in New York City on Dec. 14, 2023. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Hunt for the Best Christmas Tree Ever

Independents struggle in an industry now dominated by big ag and big-box retailers, but longtime customers know these lots are the place to find ‘The One.’
Updated:

Americans will buy at least 25 million fresh-cut Christmas trees this year, but the best one of them—the pinnacle in pine perfection—is the 8-foot Fraser fir from Laurel Springs, North Carolina, that sold for $145 at about 12:30 p.m. Nov. 30 on a church lawn in Lakeland, Florida.

So decreed yule arborists Mason Hayes, 14, and his brother, Jackson, 11—the specialists who found their perfect Christmas tree after an hour of foraging through Booger Mountain’s trees at Ardella Baptist Church on a sunny Saturday in central Florida.
AD