Men’s Club Hopes to Sell Out of Trees This Week!

SOLD! The Rohwer family, with the assistance of Men’s Club member Ken Krantz, chose their tree on Saturday afternoon, taking the total remaining from 40 to 39 left at the Men’s Club sale at Chi-Bro Park.

Down to 40 … make that 39 … trees on Saturday afternoon, the Manchester Men’s Club expects to sell out its entire stock of 240 locally-grown Christmas trees sometime this week.

This year’s tree lot was set up with the assistance of the Manchester High School boys’ soccer teams and coaches Mark Davis and Marty Tungate. John Stedman, of the Men’s Club, gave a shout-out to the student athletes and coaches for their help, adding that the whole job took less than three hours and supported the soccer team’s fundraising efforts in thanks for sharing their muscles.

The sale at Chi-Bro Park has been a long time staple in the community and is generally regarded as the best place around to get a freshly cut tree. The traditional start date is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and rarely lasts to the three-week mark.

“Our sell-out record is 12 days,” said Stedman. “We’ve already passed that, but I think we’re in pretty good shape to be done sometime this week.”

Stedman added that maybe snow might make people more ready to buy their holiday trees, but with the calendar pressing toward December 25, there’s not a lot of time left to make a choice. However, the remaining trees are all beautiful and include Canaan Fir, Douglas Fir, Blue Spruce, and Scotch Pine varieties from the Lee Arend Tree Farm near Chelsea.

As the supply winds down, Stedman reckoned that the last few trees might end up donated to the CRC or Manchester Family Services for their Christmas store at St. Mary’s.

“The beef”–locally raised and grass fed–is available with the purchase of raffle tickets from the Manchester Men’s Club, at their tree sale and at the Village Tap. Tickets are just $10 and benefit community projects.

On the note of locally grown freshness, Stedman also mentioned that the Men’s Club is raffling off a side of locally-raised, grass-fed beef and tickets are still available for a $10 donation, both at the tree sale and at the Village Tap. The side of beef is in three sections–a quarter, and two eighths–so there will be three chances to win on each ticket purchased. The drawing will be held shortly after New Year’s Day, with the date dependent upon when the meat is ready.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.