Hiatus From Rain Brings Business Back to Tree Lots

Whipped by winds and soaked thoroughly over the weekend, Christmas tree vendors spent a relatively dry Monday, thankful the hunt for that perfect tree was on again.

Across a mud-caked Ventura County, vacant lots converted into temporary tree farms saw a return of shoppers, who had stayed away during the powerful El Nino-driven drenching of the previous three days.

The rain’s departure could not have come at a better time for tree vendors. The second week of December is considered by many to be the peak of the monthlong Christmas tree season.

Taking a break from sawing trunks Monday afternoon, Peter Russell said sales are picking up at Stu Miller’s “The Price Is Right” Christmas tree lot he manages in Simi Valley.

“But next weekend is what we call our million-dollar weekend,” Russell said. “If no one buys the trees next weekend, we can’t sell ‘em in January.”

Across the county in Oxnard, Rick Terrell seemed relieved as customers returned to his tree-filled tent near Vineyard and Ventura avenues.

Terrell--who like many vendors came to California from Oregon to cash in on the larger Christmas tree market--seemed relieved as customers moved through his tent-covered lot, packed with 1,200 firs.

Over the weekend, Terrell’s “Alpine Trees” lot became so swollen with rainwater, a small lake formed. Several customers’ cars had to be pushed or towed out of the muck. A few truckloads of gravel were dumped in the lot to firm up the muddy ground.

On Friday, when fierce storms lashed the county, Terrell sold only 14 trees. On Sunday, during friendlier weather, he sold 180 trees at prices ranging from $15 to $100.

“Without the rain, it’s a ball,” Terrell said.

The dry weather should continue for at least the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.

Brief showers fell on isolated parts of the county Monday afternoon. But a high-pressure ridge building over the Pacific Ocean is expected to steer away storm clouds at least through Sunday, said weather service meteorologist Rob Krohn.

However, mostly sunny skies are expected to be accompanied this week by winds whipping up to 35 mph, Krohn said. He predicted that temperatures today and the rest of the week will be in the 60s to the lower 70s.

The heavy weekend rains filled local reservoirs such as the Freeman Diversion Dam near Saticoy. There, peak flow reached 60,000 cubic feet per second Saturday, compared to the typical 600 cubic feet per second, officials said.

All the rain made flocking fir trees--spraying them with white powder to give them a snowy look--a bit tricky, said David Lidron, who runs the “Big Wave Dave” tree stop in Ventura.

Lidron had an order from one business to flock a 25-foot-tall tree, and as he sprayed it white Sunday, he held his breath, hoping for no rain. It’s a good thing it stayed dry, he said.

“The tree would be just a big, goopy mess, rather than just white and snowy,” Lidron said.

Near the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, George Morrow boasted of brisk business Monday afternoon.

The 56-year-old comes to Thousand Oaks every winter from Lapine, Ore., and said he does a booming business.

“T.O. is just fantastic,” Morrow said. “People here know trees.”

Among tree shoppers, the noble fir is especially popular, said Jeff Enger, another Thousand Oaks tree lot operator.

That is because the nobles seem to stay fresh longer, shed fewer needles and have stronger branches, he said.

“It’s easier to hang ornaments on them,” Enger said.

Amgen employee Michelle Van Lingen dropped by Enger’s lot Monday, picking out a tree for the biotechnology company’s research library.

“We do this every year. The library’s a public place in the company so we decorate it for everyone to see,” she said. “We just look for one that’s not completely dead. Those are hard to find sometimes.”

At Terrell’s muddy tree lot in Oxnard, shopper Julie Ybarra said she knows just what she wants: “Perfectly green, tall and full. We got a beautiful one last year and just want another one.”