Annual benefit tree sale comes to an end
December 7, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti UPDATE: This post was updated on Dec. 9 with comments from Peter Plagge and news that Harwood Union’s student tree sale has ended.
As many have probably noticed by now, a holiday tradition along Main Street in Waterbury has come to an end.
Christmas trees for sale alongside the Wesley United Methodist Church. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The yard alongside the Wesley United Methodist Church is empty this month because the annual Christmas tree sale run there for the past 33 years is not happening.
With heavy regret, organizer P. Howard “Skip” Flanders this week explained that due to multiple circumstances, the event had run its course.
“The reality is setting in, and I miss seeing the people and the occasional talking with a family selecting a tree who are truly appreciative of the opportunity, or the gifting of a tree to a deserving family,” Flanders said.
The decades-long sale was a fundraiser that did not benefit the church. Instead, funds raised beyond the cost of the trees were split and donated to the Waterbury Area Good Neighbor Fund and food shelves in both Waterbury and Duxbury. Flanders said the sale in its 33 years raised more than $200,000 for the fund and food shelves.
Finding a vendor to supply the quantity of trees needed for the sale at a price and terms the church could manage became too difficult this year, Flanders explained. Organizers have faced that challenge for the past several years, but this year it was particularly daunting as costs have increased and supplies have shrunk.
“In 2022, we sold 700 trees and raised $13,000 for the three organizations. The trees cost $28,000,” Flanders said. “This year those trees would cost about $40,000.”
An 8-foot tree sold in 2022 for $80 including a markup for the fundraiser would now cost $80 wholesale, he noted. “As the prices increased, we received more complaints from people about the cost,” he added.
At the 2021 ceremony, left to right: Ed and Robin Lemery, Skip Flanders, and Methodist Church pastor Sam Newton. Photo by Gordon Miller
The sale began as a project by longtime Waterbury residents Ed and Robin Lemery and their family in memory of their son Jason who died in a car crash in June 1991. That Christmas, the family looked for a positive way to get past their grief and the benefit sale was begun.
In 2021, the Lemery family was honored with a community service award for their work on the annual tree sale. A ceremony was held at the Methodist Church while that year’s sale was in progress with people stopping by to purchase trees.
Flanders said he’s been in touch with the Lemerys who have since moved out of town. “On behalf of Wesley [Methodist Church] and the Lemery family, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to everyone who helped with the project – those volunteers who helped unload the trees, helped set up the frame and lights and help take it down, those who helped sell the trees, many Boy and Girl Scouts who helped, all those who purchased trees and made donations to the food shelf,” Flanders said. “It has truly been a wonderful project to have worked on that benefited so many people.”
A family browses the tree selection on a particularly mild November day in 2020. File photo by Gordon Miller
The sale was known for its “honor system” of payment given that volunteers were not able to staff it continuously. Trees were marked with tags and buyers were asked to put their payments through a slot in the church door. Flanders remarked that many buyers came from neighboring communities to support the sale and the charities it benefited. There were even occasions where customers figured out how to help the sale sell a tree twice.
“We once had a family who came to Vermont for an early Christmas at a condo in Stowe and purchased a tree,” Flanders recalled. “They celebrated Christmas and had to return home before Christmas. They undecorated the tree and returned it to us and we resold it to another family.”
Now the sale is a fond memory and a testament to a powerful charitable effort. To the community, Flanders adds: “We wish everyone a wonderful and safe Christmas and thank you.”
Peter Plagge is pastor of the Waterbury Congregational Church and secretary of the board of directors of the Community Action Service Team which oversees both the Good Neighbor Fund and the Waterbury Common Market (formerly the Waterbury Area Food Shelf).
“All good things come to an end,” Plagge said, stressing that it’s hard to overstate the impact Flanders and the Methodist Church had by running the tree sale for so many years to benefit the two Community Action Service endeavors.
“Skip has long been a quiet, behind-the-scenes supporter of our work. The extraordinary amount of planning and effort required to pull off the annual Christmas tree sale is just the visible part,” Plagge said. “The board is extremely grateful for his and the church's unwavering support and hard work in making the Christmas tree sale happen and for their kindness in donating their proceeds to us. Thank you!”
See a 2021 story about the tree sale and Lemery family award here.
Other sources for trees this year include the Murray Hill Tree Farm on Guptil Road in Waterbury Center, Evergreen Gardens. The Harwood Union Tree Sale at American Flatbread has sold out of trees and will not be held Dec. 13-15.