Lake City, MI

by Elizabeth Johnson

Long before families set out to select the perfect Christmas tree, growers around Lake City, Mich., (pop. 923) are busy tending millions of pine, fir, and spruce trees that someday will be decorated with lights and ornaments in living rooms across America.

Lake City is the hub of a five-county region in north-central Michigan that supplies about 10 percent of the 35 million fresh Christmas trees purchased annually in the United States. In Missaukee County alone, where Lake City is the county seat, rows of Fraser and Douglas firs, Scotch and white pines, and Colorado and blue spruce cover 6,500 acres of land on 40 Christmas tree farms. No wonder the town bills itself as the nation’s Christmas Tree Capital.

“We’re blessed in Michigan because the Great Lakes give us the perfect climate for growing many varieties of Christmas trees,” says Stephen Vanderweide, owner of the 4,000-acre Dutchman Tree Farm—the nation’s fifth-largest Christmas tree farm—in nearby Manton. “Other areas specialize in one kind of tree; but here, we can grow whatever people want.”

Ron Watson and his son, Doug, own a 1,000-acre Christmas tree farm started by Ron’s father, Don Watson, back in 1952. Watson notes that Christmas tree wholesalers from the Gulf Coast and Southern states seek out trees from the Lake City area because of the large variety it produces.

“They come here because they can pick up seven or eight different kinds of trees all from the same grower,” Ron Watson explains. “It keeps our market alive.”

Christmas trees long have been part of the Lake City culture and economy. Dutch and German settlers who came to Lake City in the late 1800s brought with them the custom of displaying Christmas trees in their homes. At first, families simply cut evergreens that grew in the surrounding forest, but as the tradition gained popularity nationwide in the early 20th century, these farmers realized Christmas trees could be a viable crop on the region’s sandy soil.

“The ground here is light, which isn’t great for corn or other crops, but Christmas trees grow well,” says Ed Helsel, whose father, Earl, was one of the region’s first Christmas tree growers 65 years ago.

Today, Helsel is a familiar name in Michigan’s Christmas tree region. “My dad and uncles and cousins are all growers,” says Paul Helsel, Ed’s nephew, who operates the 200-acre North Country Pines farm. “My earliest memories are of pruning and shaping rows of Christmas trees.”

Rhonda Helsel, another member of the extended Helsel family, serves as chairperson of the Michigan State Christmas Tree Baling Championships, held during Lake City’s annual Festival of the Pines each September. Contests in cable baling and chain baling became part of the festival three years ago as a way to have some fun with a job that’s an important part of every Christmas tree operation. The object of the contests is for a three-person crew to send 10 Christmas trees through a baling machine in the fastest time with the fewest penalties.

“Judges look for a good wrap that holds well,” Rhonda Helsel says. “The whole thing is over in less than two minutes, but teams can lose points for sloppy work.”

In November and December, Missaukee County’s Christmas tree growers bale more than a million trees for shipment to all 50 states and even overseas. Vanderweide says it’s gratifying knowing that a tree he has grown is the centerpiece of someone’s holiday celebration.

“I try not to be too sentimental about my trees. I’m a farmer and this is my crop,” he says. “But there’s something special about going out with your family and choosing a live Christmas tree. It just wouldn’t be the holiday season without a real tree.”

Elizabeth Johnson is a freelance writer in Lansing, Mich.

first appeared: 12/16/2001