Tree Vendors Are Prepared to Make Up for Soggy Sales

Working in the rain for much of the week, Orange County’s Christmas tree vendors had few customers and many annoyances, such as mud, dampness and occasional jolts of electricity from their extension cords.

But with sunny skies in the weekend weather forecast, vendors were hoping that customers, not water, would soon be flooding their lots.

“Sales have been real low this week, but the rain really only affects distribution,” said Greg Porto, 44, who operates Harbor View Christmas Trees on a lot at MacArthur Boulevard and Ford Road in Newport Beach.

“As soon as it turns sunny and warm, we’ll be mobbed,” Porto said. “After all, everybody still needs a Christmas tree.”

Hoping to do a week’s worth of business in a weekend, Porto and his staff continued to prepare trees even during the week’s heavy rainfall.

Workers tramped through puddles, trying to avoid electrical cords that snaked their way to temporary light posts, and kept the tree drills and saws buzzing.

“Every once in a while you’ll get a little shock, a little buzz going in your fingers, up your arms,” Porto said of using power tools in the outdoor dampness. “You know, water and electricity don’t mix well.”

There were other inconveniences too. A truck delivering trees from Oregon got stuck in the mud, and Porto and other workers played a game of slip and slide as they tried to push wooden planks beneath its tires for traction.

Then there were customer complaints. “People with hardwood floors and white carpet don’t like trees being delivered wet,” said Paul Hansen, 23, who works at the lot. “And people who’ve ordered flocked trees don’t understand why we can’t get them out until the rain stops.”

But as the sun began to peek through the clouds, customers not afraid of ruining a pair of shoes started to appear at still-muddy tree lots.

“I’m so far behind schedule,” said Kim Hull said as she raced through Pumpkin City Christmas Trees in Santa Ana seeking the perfect grand fir. “Saturday I’m having a Christmas party. . . . I should have bought the tree on Monday, but it kept raining and raining and raining.”

Customers who have waited until the weekend to buy will have one advantage, though: They can be almost sure that their trees will last the entire season. Vendors said the rain, for all its inconveniences, has kept their stock moist and fresh.

Even if the rain returns, most customers by this point will venture out anyhow, Porto said.

“Some people don’t have a choice if they’re having a party or mom’s coming to town,” he said. “There’s also those people who think it’s fun to get wet and muddy.”

Besides, a rainy day is nothing compared to the bitter cold that people have to endure when they go tree shopping in other parts of the nation.

“It’s no fun picking out trees in the pouring rain,” Terry Rice of Newport Beach conceded as she scoped out the inventory at the Harbor View lot.

“But it sure beats below-zero weather,” husband Richard Rice added, recalling childhood Christmases in Wisconsin.