News item connects Gilford Rotary with new Christmas Tree Supplier

GILFORD — After losing their supplier at the end of last year, this year’s Gilford Rotary Christmas tree sale almost wasn't.

It was careful reading by the wife of a member of the Rotary’s Tree Committee that made the sale possible, bringing New England-grown trees to the homes of Lakes Region families.

The Gilford Rotary has sold Christmas trees to benefit charities for 36 years. In a typical year, according to rotarian and Tree Committee member Chris Ray, the Rotary sells 600 trees and nets between $12,000 and $13,000.

At last year’s sale, Ray said, their supplier announced that he was retiring. The search immediately began for a new supplier, but without much success. Amid a Christmas tree shortage nationwide, many nonprofits have had to cancel or cut back their fundraising tree sales because of insufficient stock.

“We were following at least a half a dozen leads,” Ray said. “They all kept telling us to check back later.” 

Ray’s wife Jean noticed a press release in The Daily Sun about a Lakes Region Community College student getting a jumpstart in the Christmas tree growing business.

While a student at LRCC, Jackson Musgrave had an epiphany about joining the Christmas tree-growing business of his extended family. After graduating, Musgrave purchased a former tree farm in Van Buren, Maine, and enjoined his resources with relatives in the multi-generational family business of MMB Trees.

“I love to read those ‘local boy makes good’ kinds of stories,” Jean said. “I told Chris, ‘Why don't you give this young man a call?’”

Chris did just that, and though Musgrave initially wasn’t sure if he could help, he called Ray in September and gave him the good news.

“None of those other suppliers were going to be able to help us, so Jackson really bailed us out,” Ray said. 

In addition to those from MMB, trees over 10 feet tall sold by the Rotary come from the property of a local resident who, Ray said, started growing trees for his family for fun and now has surplus that he donates to the Rotary.

The Rotary has long prided itself on the quality of the trees it offers. 

“A lot of the trees that people can buy in the big box stores come from, say, North Carolina,” Ray said. “These are New England trees. He told us that he cut them last week. So they're very fresh.”

Funds raised by the sale, among the Rotary’s other fundraising events, go toward local charities and Lakes Region projects. Some of its recent donations have gone to the installation of an ADA compliant door and to the polystyrene recycling program in Gilford. The organization also donates some of the trees themselves to families in need.

“I commend all the hard work that Chris and his team have put together for these trees,” Rotary President Nick Trudel said. The connection was made, he said “no pun intended here, but literally in the nick of time.”

The Gilford Rotary Christmas tree sale will run from Friday Nov. 25, to Sunday, Dec. 4, at the Fireside Inn parking lot from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and from noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday.