Forget Black Friday, it’s also Green Friday.
The transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is underway, and it's evident at more than just shopping malls -- it's clear at Christmas tree farms around Massachusetts, including at the Taproot Tree Farm in Stow where business is booming despite the recent dry weather.
Christmas trees help fuel a multi-million dollar industry here in the Bay State at nearly 260 farms.
A holiday tradition renewed - cutting down the family Christmas tree after searching for the prefect one, not always an easy task.
”I think the hard part was finding one. I think it would be much easier if we could pick three or four,” one man told NBC10 Boston.
People are encouraged to visit local farms for their green holiday needs. The sale of locally grown Christmas trees generate more $4.5 million for the state’s economy each year.
”From the Berkshires to Cape Cod, you’ll find Christmas tree farms throughout. And they really are important economic drivers in local communities,” said Mass. agricultural commissioner Ashley Randle.
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Jamie Aspenson and her husband started Taproot Farm 10 years ago. They have more than 16,000 trees on 10 acres.
”We’re outside every day doing something with trees,” she said.
According to Aspenson, climate change is having an impact, but what’ll happen as a result of this recent drought is still unclear.
"We won’t know the full impact of the drought this year until we see how the trees grow next year," she explained. "It’s a next year thing."
A lot Christmas trees are brought into Massachusetts from Canada and down south.
”It’s more fun because you’re in the great outdoors,” a boy visiting the tree farm said.
Despite all those out of state trees, farms like this one in Stow are seeing more and more people looking to cut down their own.
"I just find it really fun and a nice memory for the kids,” a woman told us.
Christmas trees are very hearty, and the experts tells us if you keep them watered in your house they should last through the holiday.
