DUNCAN — The holiday season is hitting its peak, and nothing says Christmas is coming better than a Christmas tree.

Many people have switched to artificial, but many still feel that a traditional real Christmas tree is the way to go. And the Duncan Kiwanis Club is offering just that during their annual Christmas tree sale.

At 1 p.m. Friday, the Kiwanis will open the gates to their Christmas Tree lot in front of Ace Hardware on U.S. Highway 81 to the public to sell real Christmas trees to anyone who wants to buy one. Sales at the tree sale benefit several community projects — Kiddieland, Pancake Day, summer swim lessons, student scholarships, Duncan High School and Empire High School Key Clubs, Kaleidoscope, Stephens County Youth Shelter, Duncan Rescue Mission, Christian’s Concerns, Women’s Haven, The Toyshop Gabriel’s House, Junior Police and Duncan elementary schools.

Kiwanis member John Herdt said that the group has been doing this sale for a lot of years and has been at this particular location for quite awhile as well.

“People have seen us here every year and we just hope they come out and help support us and what the money goes toward,” Herdt said.

The sale will continue to Dec. 19, giving buyers nearly three weeks to visit the tree lot, pick a favorite and purchase it. Herdt encourages people to come sooner not just for availability reasons, but for fresher trees.

“The sooner people come, the better. These trees need to get to water as soon as possible so they can stay fresh longer,” Herdt said. “Whether you put it up right away or not, it needs to get to water quickly.”

Herdt said that they have 500 trees on site to sell to people, which is lower than years past, but part of that is due to people buying trees from other places, such as Wal-Mart, and from people getting artificial trees.

“They sold around 150 trees last year that we didn’t get to sell, so that hurt us a little,” Herdt said. “We used to sell close to three or four thousand 25 years ago, but that was 25 years ago.

“We still have a pretty good turnout from people who still love the fresh real trees that like the smell in the house and things like that.”

Operating the tree lot are volunteers from the Kiwanis Club and student volunteers with Empire Key Club. The two Duncan Kiwanis groups combined earlier this month, which is a plus. Herdt said they would normally have 35 volunteers help to sell the trees, but this year he expects between 60 and 70. This will make the work much easier, and people won’t have to spend as much time there to help out.

They will be selling trees seven days a week, from 1-5 p.m. Sundays and weekdays, 1-8 p.m. Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays. Trees range from $20 to $100, depending on size and quality, and trees available are fraser and douglas firs, white and scotch pines and balsam and noble firs. Other items available are treestands: $8 for a medium and $15 for a large, Tree Life for $1 and tree removal bags for $2. They will also have fraser fir wreaths. Herdt encourages everyone to come out and help support the Kiwanis Club and the other groups and organizations that benefit from the sales.

“It’s a good way to help the community,” Herdt said. “We really hope everyone will come and support us all.”



— Kevin Kerr is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 147, or via e-mail at kevin.kerr@duncanbanner.com.