Theresa Opeka
Carolina Journal
North Carolina once again carried on a tradition this week with the delivery of a Fraser Fir from an Avery County Christmas tree farm that will appear in the Blue Room in the White House.
Dillion and Ben, two Clydesdale horses, brought the tree up the White House driveway on a carriage.
Sam, David, and Jim Cartner of Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Newland presented First Lady Jill Biden and her grandson Beau with the tree they named “Treemendous.” Also on hand were Rep. Virginia Foxx, R, NC-05, and members of the North Carolina National Guard.
“The Cartner family lost thousands of trees in the storm, but this one remains standing, and they named it Treemendous for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” the First Lady said. “This tree recognizes your tremendous strength and service. In just a few days, volunteers from all over the country will pour in to transform this tree and decorate the entire White House, and out of the whirlwind of glitter and garlands will come the warmth and comfort of this season.”
This year marks the second year in a row that a North Carolina Christmas tree farm was chosen for the honor. Last year, Cline Church Nursery in Fleetwood, Ashe County, was chosen.
The tree’s selection also marks the record-breaking 16th time that a tree has been selected from the Tar Heel State, more than any other state in the nation.
“Treemendous” is 25 years old, 20 feet tall, and 12 feet wide.
In a recent phone interview, Sam Cartner told the Carolina Journal that his family was very pleased and humbled by the honor.
“It gives us a lot of notoriety, and we’re really proud of our trees in North Carolina,” he said. “It’s just not about Cartner’s. It’s about Frasier Firs, raised in western North Carolina.”
Founded in 1959 by his parents, Sam and Margaret, Cartner told CJ that his dad was a North Carolina agricultural extension agent in western North Carolina and was a strong proponent for family farms.
Longtime customers, or friends, as Sam calls them, called to check on how they were doing after Helene hit the area.
“I can’t tell you how many customers have called and asked how we did through the flood and the hurricane just to check on us, and it’s really a great feeling to have friends as customers and a relationship like that,” he told CJ.
While, thankfully, no lives or buildings were lost, between 5,000 and 6,000 trees under 4 feet were lost to mudslides. These were not market-size trees but 10% of their future harvest.
North Carolina produces about 25%, or 6 million, of the 25 million Christmas trees sold in America each year, second only to Oregon. Ninety-six percent of the trees in NC are Fraser Fir.
The annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving Turkeys also took place Monday at the White House by outgoing President Joe Biden.
The turkeys named Peach and Blossom will head back home to Waseca, Minnesota, to live as “agricultural ambassadors” at Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretive center.
“This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington,” Biden said to a group gathered on the South Lawn. “It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season and give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you, it’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful.”
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