Local Christmas tree farm preparing for busy weekend, feeling inflation impact
Pine Hill Farms in Evans City is opening on Friday.
The owners are spending part of their Thanksgiving preparing for the big weekend ahead because they expect this year will be one of their busiest.
”We’ve received three times more calls this year than prior years,” said Ken Dambaugh, the co-owner of Pine Hill Farms.
The tree farm is only one of a few in the area that sell live Frazier fir trees.
They expect to sell out in just days.
”We are going to be selling about 400 Frazier fir this year and those will sell out in about 4 to 5 days,” said Dambaugh.
The co-owner said there’s a higher demand because there’s a tree shortage since there aren’t as many tree farms around anymore.
This is also causing tree prices to go up drastically, about 25% percent more than last year.
”I’ve never seen that much of a jump in one year. It’s really unusual. The prior two years we didn’t have any price increase. The most stressful part of opening the farm this year was the deliberation of how much to increase the price,” said Dambaugh.
Another reason for the higher prices is inflation.
”It’s stressful to pass along such an increase. It’s really due to market factors and demand,” said Dambaugh.
Being a small family owned tree farm for about 80 years, they want to keep the tradition alive and help make sure every family gets the tree they want this holiday season.
The owners suggest calling tree farms ahead of time to make sure they have the type of tree you want because they expect trees to sell out fast this year.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
TRENDING NOW:
Woman killed, child taken to hospital after crash near Mansfield Bridge in Glassport 1 person taken to hospital after stabbing at Greensburg bar Windows of downtown Pittsburgh business shattered during fight between teens VIDEO: Millvale apartment complex tenants removed from homes under new management DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
