RACINE — The Annual Downtown Racine Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday evening.
Bob Graves and Eric Olson with Graves Signs hoist holiday wreaths on light posts throughout Downtown Racine.
ANNIE PULLEY
“The Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting are the official kickoff to Racine’s 2024 holiday season,” according to Kelly Kruse, executive director of the Downtown Racine Corporation.
From left to right, Zedtric Cottingham, Aliah Ramirez, Sean Barry and Jill Meyer with Mileager's garden center work to decorate one of more than 70 planter pots throughout the downtown area.
ANNIE PULLEY
Eric Olson, left, and Bob Graves secure wreaths to light posts ahead of the holiday parade in Downtown Racine.
ANNIE PULLEY
Before the parade, visitors are encouraged to gather in Monument Square for live holiday music by carolers, and bands from Horlick Brass Quartet and the Park High School Ensemble beginning around 4:45 p.m.
Performances will continue after the parade, which is scheduled to start about 5:30 p.m. and travel from the west side of the State Street bridge, down Main Street and west on Sixth Street until it reaches City Hall.
The Annual Downtown Racine Holiday Parade is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9.
Journal Times file photo
At 6:50 p.m., attendees are encouraged to rally at Monument Square for the tree lighting ceremony, which will feature Santa Claus.
This year’s festivities also will include a fireworks display.
Starting Nov. 9, visitors to downtown will be able to vote for their favorite window displays as part of the Holiday Window Decorating Contest at facebook.com/racinedowntown. More than 12 businesses are expected to participate.
Tangles Salon Studio at 304 Main Street shows off its holiday display ahead of the downtown parade and tree lighting ceremony set for Nov. 9.
WEST BEND, Wis. — If you want a cut-your-own Christmas tree, you better act fast. Christmas tree farms are seeing an unprecedented demand this holiday season.
“First weekend was extremely busy. I'll say Friday was the busiest I’ve ever seen in my life here. We actually had 155 cars on the road that came in our tree lot in 20 minutes," Dean Fechter, the owner of Christmas on Indian Lore in West Bend, said.
Fechter had to increase the number of cut-your-own trees available this year from 750 to more than 1,000.
James Groh
Christmas on Indian Lore has about 30,000 Christmas trees on the property but only 1,000 can be harvested this year.
There are a few reasons this is happening. According to the National and American Christmas Tree Associations, there is a shortage due to an increased demand, climate change, and more people are buying trees early.
“Unprecedented weather events in the Pacific Northwest, including fires, drought, and heat waves, have impacted live Christmas tree crop yields, with some Oregon farmers reporting losing up to 90 percent of their crop this summer," the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA) said.
This demand is something that was also prevalent in 2020.
"After taking the pulse of what growers experienced, which had been gathered by the National Christmas Tree Association board of directors representing state and regional grower associations across the country, we found that Christmas tree sales in 2020 occurred earlier. Sales grew at a more rapid pace and available inventories sold out in many cases," the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) said.
James Groh
Cut-your-own Christmas trees are in such high demand that some Wisconsin lots have already sold out for the season.
Fechter also has his own reasons. He said he has noticed more young families buying real trees. Plus, many of the longtime Christmas tree farmers are beginning to retire.
"The average Christmas tree farmer is 70 to 80-years-old in a lot of cases," Fechter said. “I can say within 25 miles of this location over the last six, seven years a 60 year business went out, 50, 35 and other ones. So that added pressure comes on to facilities.”
More business is great, but not always easy to keep up with. Despite having 25,000 to 30,000 trees on his farm, Fechter said that only some are ready to be cut down. Christmas on Indian Lore only allows trees that are 10 to 14 years old to be harvested. That means it's a years long wait until new inventory is available. Seemingly, this problem could persist for a few more years given these circumstances.
While working on this story, I reached out to multiple different Christmas tree farms. Many declined an interview given that they couldn't handle the extra attention with an already high demand.
Poplar Creek Tree Farm in New Berlin posted on its Facebook page saying that it had already sold out of trees.
This is something that the ACTA warned of in September stating, "In 2020, 94 million U.S. households celebrated Christmas by displaying a Christmas tree in their home. Of those trees, 85% were artificial, and 15% were live. Despite expectations of similar consumer demand in 2021, the Christmas tree industry could experience a shortage of both artificial and live trees."
Christmas trees are rising in price too.
"The economic instability caused by COVID-19 and the impacts of extreme weather have affected all parts of the global and U.S. supply chain, and Christmas trees are no exception. These challenges mean that there will be fewer live and artificial Christmas trees available this year, and those that are available will cost more than before," the ACTA said.
James Groh
However, Frecht said that his trees are relatively cheap. His cut-your-own trees cost around $45 to $65. He said considering the work and years long investment that goes into each tree, that's a fair price.
"We hand plant everyone. We hand fertilize every tree every year to get them to grow greener," he said.
Frecht hopes that he can avoid these issues in the future, though. He plans on having about 5,000 trees ready for harvest in the coming years.
But until then, act fast if you want to cut down your own tree. Otherwise, they might all be gone.
Nicholas Kleinmann, 4, carries a wreath to his parents' vehicle at the Ideal Christmas Trees lot on North Santa Monica Boulevard in Whitefish Bay Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. Nicholas was with his mother, Sarah Kleinmann; father, Kevin Kleinmann; and three older sisters, Sophia, 14, Emma, 10, and Julia, 7, all not pictured.
Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
With more people staying close to home for the holidays this year, those homes are looking and smelling a little greener as more people opt for real Christmas trees.
Sales of not just trees but also wreaths and other fresh decorations are up nationwide, with some lots and farms in the Milwaukee area selling out of trees earlier than they have in the past.
Tree sales across the country are up 29% this year, according to a survey done by Evercore ISI, as reported by CNBC.
Greg Hann, owner of Hann’s Christmas Tree Farm in Oregon in Dane County, said sales at his farm have been “very brisk” and he thinks they will finish 25% higher than last year.
“Everybody wants a live tree this year,” said Hann, who is also on the board of the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Association.
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