It's Almost Time

Almost time!

Christmas Tree sales season starts 7 weeks from today, November 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

Many Choose & Cut farms and retail lots around the country will open up that day. Many farms are already open for pumpkin sales and Autumn agri-tainment. If you’re going to get some pumpkins to decorate for harvest season and/or Halloween, and you want a fun family day outing in the country, check the Christmas Tree farms in your area to see if they are offering pumpkin sales. Many of them also offer hay rides, corn mazes, haunted barns, gift shops, arts and crafts, and many other activities.

Here at NCTA, we’re gearing up for 3 big things this year.

First is the essay contest. We have had many questions and inquiries about the contest already this year. Here’s an example from Amanda:

From: Amanda Walker
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006
Subject: The Real Christmas Tree Scholarship Contest

I have been trying to download the entry form and official rules for the contest but for some reason it will not work. If you could please help me with that, it would be greatly appreciated!

Answer: Yep Amanda...and all other kids out there. The contest will be held again in 2006 and the entry forms are ready for downloading and printing. You can find a link on the front page. The entry form has already been downloaded more than 3,600 times since we posted it in mid-September!

The second big thing we will be concentrating on this year is the 2nd Real Trees for Troops program sponsored by the Christmas Spirit Foundation and Fed Ex. Christmas Tree farmers all over the U.S. will be donating more than 14,000 trees this year while Fed Ex delivers them to more than 20 military bases. It’s an ambitious but very worthy effort. You can read about the plans so far and support the program through this link:
http://www.christmasspiritfoundation.org/programs/trees4troops/home.htm

The third thing we’ll be concentrating on is new for 2006 and related to the Trees 4 Troops program. The National Scrapbooking Association and the Christmas Spirit Foundation will be coordinating Harvesting Memories, a srapbooking crop and shop experience on Veterans Day - November 11 - to raise funds for Trees for Troops, a nationwide effort to boost the Christmas spirit for U.S. military men and women. If you are a scrapbooker, you don’t want to miss this.

Here’s a link to more info http://www.harvestingmemories.org/.

As you can see, it’s going to be a busy year, especially if we see another increase in the number of fresh, farm-grown Christmas Trees purchased for the third year in a row. Check back often in the coming weeks as we’ll start posting more frequently.

A Few Updates ...

Last week we saw an article describing a news conference given by the Foreign Minister of China. In this address, he said fake trees made in China and shipped to the U.S. helps to conserve the U.S. environment.

Seriously.....it was such a ridiculous thing to say, we had to put out a news release refuting the statement. You can read it on our current releases page.

The winners of the Help Santa Find the Perfect Christmas Tree essay contest were announced. We had nearly 5,000 entries this year! Way to go kids! See the list of winners, their photos and essays here.

Speaking of the environment, particularly recycling...our partnership with EARTH 911 continues to yield results. The number of tree recycling sites listed in their online, searchable database went from 3,540 to 3,824. While the number of visitors to the recycling information on EARTH 911 web site went up over 15%.

Remember, if you have questions or suggestions for a blog topic, please send them in. Rest assured we do work all year, not just November and December!

Deadline Approaching for Santa Contest!

It’s not too late to enter the “Help Santa Find the Perfect Real Tree” contest. NCTA will be giving out $5,000 in scholarships or trip for 4 to Orlando to four different students in age groups from 6-18. Plus one will win a grand prize of $10,000 total in scholarship money.

You can read about last years winners here.

You can read a news story about last year’s Grand Prize winner.