Christmas tree farmers across Massachusetts had their own kind of Black Friday this year. On Nov. 28, Governor Maura Healey dubbed the day “Green Friday,” a push to kick off the holiday season while spotlighting the state’s Christmas tree and nursery industries.

While shoppers elsewhere woke before dawn to map out traffic-free routes, scour deals, and stack lawn chairs in car trunks to claim a place in line, farmers were already in the thick of a different kind of rush — one that had been years in the making.

The Christmas tree season, after all, begins long before the holidays arrive. For Meagan MacNeill, the new co-owner of River Wind Tree Farm in Lancaster, this year marked her very first season in the business. And as it turned out, she was unprepared, she said.

Customers began gathering at 9 a.m., an hour before opening, eager to flood the fields and begin their search for the perfect tree. It was all-hands on deck for the MacNeills; Meagan assembled both her immediate and extended family to help out.

The season began and closed in a flash. They sold out of cut-your-own trees the very next day, on Saturday, Nov. 29, and of pre-cut trees two weekends later.

The one word Meagan used to describe the season? “Insanity,” she said without missing a beat.

“I think it’s a new Olympic sport, getting the biggest and best Christmas tree,” she added with a laugh.

The challenges

The MacNeills are one of 459 Christmas tree farms across the state, which operate on nearly 3,000 acres of land and contribute more than $4.5 million to the local economy every year.

Like MacNeill, many farmers sold out of trees quicker this year than in years past (particularly since before the pandemic), according to David Morin, the communications liaison and former president of the Massachusetts Christmas Tree Association. He also owns Arrowhead Acres in Uxbridge, a Christmas tree farm and wedding venue.

Pre-pandemic, he was open for four weekends: Thanksgiving weekend, plus the three following it. He doubled his sales in 2020 during the pandemic. Now, he’s struggling to meet demand with a lower inventory.

“I was lucky to make it through two weekends. I actually shut down early on the second weekend because I didn’t have enough trees,” he said. 

It’s not just that individual farms are struggling to meet demand, but that the number of farms nationally are dwindling. Between 2002 and 2022, the number of farms growing Christmas trees fell by nearly 30%, down from more than 13,600 to about 10,000, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, an agricultural organization.

Why are there fewer farms? Illan Kessler, who operates North Pole Xmas Trees, a wholesale grower in Colebrook, New Hampshire and choose-and-cut Noel’s Tree Farm in Litchfield, attributed the decline to farmers aging out of the industry. This, coupled with a lack of interest from the next generation to continue the business, means fewer farms.

“They get older, and then no one takes over, so there’s less and less tree farms,” he said.

It takes between seven and 10 years to grow a Christmas tree. Farmers are competing not just with national chains like Home Depot or Walmart — which “are super-influencers when it comes to price,” Kessler said — but also with artificial Christmas tree suppliers. 

“The artificial Christmas tree companies make so much revenue that they have a marketing budget that eclipses — at a magnitude of thousands-to-one — what real Christmas tree growers have to promote and market their own products,” Kessler added.

Prices of trees have gone up this year compared to last too, driven by inflation and tariffs along with a dwindling labor force and increasing costs of seedlings and machinery, Kessler and Morin said.

Morin likened being a Christmas tree farmer to a “love-hate” relationship. 

“The week after you’ve sold the trees, you’re in love with them. But for the other 11 months of the year, if it isn’t gypsy moths or caterpillars or one kind of a bug or another, or lack of rain or too much rain, it’s a constant hassle,” he said.

But despite it all, they wouldn’t give it up for the world.

“It’s like a Hallmark movie,” said Kessler. “We love selling Christmas trees, and we are super grateful to be in this business. I feel so blessed. I love what I do,” he added.

Joy to the world

Meagan and Steven MacNeill had dreamed of owning a Christmas tree farm in Vermont when they were newlyweds, but life got in the way. Before becoming farmers, Meagan worked as a school counselor, and Steven worked as a pharmacist — a job he still holds full time, she said.

“I knew, for me in particular, the traditional kind of 9-to-5 job didn’t feel right,” she said. She started working at a garden center and volunteering at an alpaca farm in Harvard on Sundays to satisfy the itch to be outdoors working in nature. Her husband later joined her at the alpaca farm, and it became their Sunday morning tradition for almost two years.

The couple bought River Wind Tree Farm in June from the Wareck family, fulfilling their two-decades-old dream to be Christmas tree farmers. 

But it wasn’t the fairy tale they had dreamed it to be. From learning to identify the farm’s many tree varieties — including exotic Christmas trees such as Nordmann fir, Korean balsam, and noble fir — to navigating drought and pest pressures, the experience was as much a challenge as it was a labor of love for the MacNeill family.

“The way the season looked was kind of a crapshoot because we had no idea what we were doing,” Meagan laughed. “It’s been a big learning curve for us. We still have a ton to learn.”

The MacNeills plan on adding alpacas to the farm next year, and are getting creative on keeping revenue flowing outside of the Christmas tree season by holding photoshoots at the farm.

Despite the arduous work, whirlwind season, years of preparation, and fierce competition, Meagan is grateful to be in the industry — and she’s not looking back.

For many Christmas tree farmers, herself included, the pull is hard to define. It’s rooted in community, tradition, and the simple joy of bringing people together for the holidays.

“It’s the joy of people coming to pick out their Christmas tree, and even having my family be a part of it,” Meagan said. “People coming out and just connecting to the land for a little while, or being with their family, and having these traditions that are not centered around electronics, but just being present. It’s so special.”