1Elk Rapids NewsDecember 19, 2019

NEWS ELK RAPIDS

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Volume XIV Issue No. 30

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December 192019

BY BARB MOSHER , CONTR IBUT ING WR ITER

COVER STORY continued on page 24

By the time most of us begin hauling boxes of ornaments up from the basement, down from the attic, or in from the garage, local landscapers Eric Rubert and Scott Felker have hauled hundreds of fresh-cut Christmas trees to the Houston area where they are quickly snatched up by Texans looking to add high quality greenery to their holidays.

“We’ve built a reputation and we see the same people year after year,” Rubert said. “We’ve become part of their Christmas traditions.”

The two business partners own and operate 365 Outdoor 11 months out of the year. But for four or five

Taking Christmas to Texasweeks in November and December, they set up shop under the banner Michigan Christmas Trees and sell Fraser firs, concolor firs, Douglas firs, Black Hills spruce, and blue spruce grown and harvested by Messiah’s Tree Farm near Alden. They started nine years ago with 800 trees on one lot. This year they sold more than twice that on three lots before returning home Tuesday.

“We don’t have to advertise,” Rubert said. “Seventy-five to eighty percent of our business is repeat customers, and they advertise for us.”

He says it’s the superiority of northern Michigan trees that keeps people coming back. Kirt Helsel, owner of Messiah’s Tree Farm, credits the ideal climate conditions along the 45th parallel for the production of exceptional Christmas evergreens.

“Michigan trees in general go through a shutdown that hardens off the tree, so their shelf life is a lot longer than those harvested elsewhere,” explained the grower who wholesales 55,000 Christmas trees annually. “Typically, after we get our first frost, the trees know it’s time to go dormant, time to go to sleep.”

He cuts trees mid-November through mid-December and has been shipping them to retail lots in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas for more than 40 years. He maintained his own lot south of Houston until his expanding wholesale business demanded his total focus. Around the same time, Rubert and Felker were considering how to keep busy during the end-of-the-year landscaping lull.

“We use Kirt’s live trees in our landscaping, and he approached us about selling Christmas trees in Texas,” Rubert said. “He said there were a lot of places selling them down there, but the quality was poor, and if we would bring his trees down, we’d do very well.”

In 2011, they found an acre to rent from a farm market, loaded a trailer with Helsel’s trees, and headed south. The

venture was an immediate success. With the help of Elk Rapids resident Matt VandeKerkhof, a partner in their Christmas tree operation for the last few years, they added a second lot three years ago and a third one this year.

“We come down the week before Thanksgiving and open the day after,” Felker said. “That’s always our busiest weekend. Fraser firs are the most popular because of their fragrance and appearance.”

The three men are helped by a 365 Outdoor employee along with Rubert’s father, Fred, and workers hired from the Houston area. Although the weather is pleasant and they enjoy the break from their normal routine, Felker says it’s not the vacation many assume it to be.

Every tree they take — plus those that are shipped later to replenish their inventory — is set up in a stand and requires daily watering. The lots are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, with home deliveries before and after. And, Felker added, it’s a long time to be away from home during the season that’s so focused

Conner Dawson, Scott Felker, Matt VandeKerkhof, Eric Rubert and Fred Rubert on one of their three Christmas tree lots in Texas. Courtesy photo.

Christmas trees from northern Michigan fill a lot near Houston, Texas. Courtesy photo.

A Michigan tree graces a home in Texas. Courtesy photo

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