Rockford Christmas tree tradition has been helping families make memories for 60 years
Loren Salzman is grateful to be part of a Rockford holiday tradition that dates back to the 1960s.
Salzman and his colleagues from the YMCA Retired Men’s Club are once again selling Christmas trees, wreaths and garland at Highcrest Centre, 1646 N. Alpine Road, to help area families celebrate the spirit of the season.
“We have people that tell us that they came to the tree lot when they were a kid and now they’re bringing their grandchildren to buy a tree from us,” Salzman said. “We’re very lucky because people can go other places and buy cheap trees for less, but they know that the proceeds are going to a good cause. I think a lot of people just consider it a donation as much as anything.”
The YMCA Retired Men’s Club expects to raise about $16,000 this year with the proceeds going to benefit the YMCAs youth programs. The sale is the men’s club’s biggest fundraiser annually.
This year, the men’s club purchased 525 Balsam and Canaan Firs, ranging from six to nine feet tall, from a tree farmer in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
The trees sell for $50 to $80, depending on their height.
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Retired Men’s Club Member Ted Plum has been selling Christmas trees at Highcrest Centre for about four years.
“I can look out there and see families with a lot of joy and happiness,” Plum said. “It brings me back to my youth when I used to go out with my dad and cut down a tree out in the woods. Here, it’s simpler because the trees are already cut so all they have to do is haul it home.”
Christmas tree sale hours are 1 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Sales are typically busier on weekends, when the men’s club enlists the help of student volunteers from Boylan High School.
“I think we do awfully well given all of the competition and all of the artificial trees that are available now,” Salzman said. “There’s just a lot of people that continue their tradition of having a real tree and come buy it from us.”
For Plum, the annual Christmas tree sale is about camaraderie.
“We all volunteer our time just to be here and have fun as a men’s group,” he said. “It’s kind of neat. I wish more retired men knew about it and would come down to the Y and join the club.”
Ken DeCoster covers business news and features. Contact him at 815-987-1391, kdecoster@rrstar.com or @DeCosterKen.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Christmas tree tradition goes back 60 years
