Dennis Duke, owner of Hilltop Tree Farm, sold out of 12 ft. Christmas trees in 10 minutes when he opened the gates to his Philpot business on Friday.
Duke said he didn’t order 12 ft. trees last year, but after so many customers requested them he added them to this year’s shipment from North Carolina. He plans to order even more next year.
But the rush for trees in nothing new for Duke who sold out of all trees by Dec. 4 last season.
According to Duke, Owensboro is opting for live Christmas trees more and more each year.
“The last three years sales have gone up and not just here,” Duke said, explaining that his North Carolina distributor indicates a national trend for live trees over artificial.
Each year Duke said he has around 15 percent of first-time live tree buyers, something he judges by the sales of his Christmas tree stands, which are a one-time purchase for customers.
Hilltop will sell anywhere from 300 to 500 trees each year, Duke said, with the price ranging from $45 to $250 and averaging $60 to $70.
Canaan firs, white pines and Norway spruces are all grown on Duke’s 105-acre Philpot property. Duke says between there and other tree farms he has around the county, he estimates he has nearly 3,000 trees in various stages of growth. He plants around 400 trees each year to keep up with his Christmas tree demand.
“It’s hard work like tobacco. It takes six to seven years to get your money back when you first get started,” Duke said, explaining that a 6 to 7 ft. tree takes six to seven years to grow.
But his most popular seller — the Fraser fir, which Duke calls the “Cadillac of Christmas trees” — is what Duke has shipped in from North Carolina. Due to the harsh Kentucky summers, Fraser firs don’t survive in this climate.
“I know where they’re cut and I know they’re fresh,” Duke said of his Fraser firs, which were cut just days prior to their delivery last week.
Duke has been in the Christmas tree business for 30 years. He began selling under a tent with the trees lined up along a rope. He eventually graduated to tree stands, where the trees could be better viewed by customers. In 2000, he sold the land on Highway 54 where he had always set up his seasonal tree lot. He used the profit to build his tree business on his own Philpot property, where HIlltop Tree Farm has become family tradition for hundreds each year.
