Vendors at these outlets represent a wide range of interests. Often they are professionals who market trees every year, but there will also be a goodly sprinkling of Boy Scout troops, service clubs, church groups and on-holiday college students who see Christmas tree retailing as a way to fatten thin bank accounts. Some also offer the free use of saws, will carry the tree to the vehicle and see that it is safely mounted for transportation. Some families enjoy such outings so much that on their annual visit they will not only select a tree for that Christmas season, but in addition tag an immature tree, which will be theirs when it grows to the proper height. Growing Christmas trees in the 1990s is a full-time job, a job for the experts.
Harvest is, of course, the busiest time of the year for the grower.
Literally thousands of workers descend on the fields of mature trees to cut and haul them to staging areas where they are loaded on trucks to be carried to their ultimate destination. Growers try exceedingly hard to see that their trees are fresh when they reach the marketplace. To speed the harvest process some large growers use helicopters to pick up slings of freshly cut trees and fly them to the staging area for loading on trucks. Numerous Pacific Northwest Christmas tree growers take yet another step to see that their product is fresh when it arrives. They transport their trees in refrigerated vans, which keep the trees at the proper temperature when crossing mountain ranges or traveling in southern sub-tropic regions where winter temperatures are above normal.