White House again finds just the right Christmas tree in N.C.

CRESTON, N.C. - The crowd clustered expectantly in the chilly mountain air yesterday as a team from Washington arrived to select the official White House Christmas tree.

The group rode a hay-filled trailer pulled by a tractor up a steep, winding gravel road to a grassy hillside dotted with the tallest trees among the 1 million Fraser firs of River Ridge Tree Farms. They were rewarded with a close-up view of the leaf-colored-beauty of The Peak, which rises up 5,159 feet on the other side of the main road, making it Ashe County’s highest mountain.

More than 100 people moved away from the steep drop-off as the White House car drove up near the tall trees. Stepping out were the White House’s chief usher, Stephen Rochon, a retired admiral; Dale Haney, the superintendent of the White House grounds; and Nancy Clarke, the White House’s chief floral designer.

“So what are we doing here today?“ Rochon joked with the crowd.

As they started walking toward the trees and the crowd moved with them, 4-year-old Athena Estes told him and everyone else:
“We have a lot of trees for you to look at,“ said Athena, the granddaughter of Rusty Estes, one of the tree-farm owners. “Let’s go, everybody.“

The crowd laughed and moved on. The White House team quickly found a nice tree - just the right height, with fragrant, perfectly symmetrical branches. But Clarke tugged on the branches and thought that they might not be sturdy enough to hold of some of the 400-plus ornaments.

“This is a beautiful tree, but I think it might be a little soft,“ she said.

The crowd all walked down a hill, then back up.

“How does North Carolina keep growing these perfect trees?“ asked Rochon, who was in Ashe County last year to pick the 2007 White House tree.

“That’s to keep the White House coming back,“ said Jessie Davis, a co-owner of River Ridge Tree Farms.

The tree hunt continued.

“This is so critical,“ Rochon said. “It’s President Bush’s last Christmas. It’s got to be perfect.“

Finally, they found just the right tree. It could be trimmed to 181/2 feet to fit beneath the Blue Room’s ceiling. The branches were strong. They tapered nicely from the top.

“We’re going to proclaim this the White House Christmas tree,“ said Rochon, nesting a red, white and blue ribbon in its branches.

“Do you like this one, Athena?“ Rochon asked the 4-year-old girl.

“Yep,“ she said.

“All right. It’s a done deal,“ he said, and people applauded.

The tree had been transplanted to this spot in 1985 by Davis and his father-in-law, Joe Pennington. It was 5 years old at the time.

Pennington died in 2003. His widow, Carol, along with Davis and Rusty Estes, all partners in River Ridge Tree Farms, watched yesterday as the White House team moved among the trees that Pennington had nurtured for so long.

“This is nothing short of a tribute to Joe,“ Davis said. “Providing a Christmas tree to the White House would have been the ultimate accomplishment for him.“

The tree will be harvested the day after Thanksgiving and taken to Washington, where the partners and their families will present it to Laura Bush.

River Ridge Tree Farms won the right to supply the White House tree in August, when it was named the Grand Champion of the 2008 Christmas Tree Contest at a meeting of the National Christmas Tree Association in Des Moines, Iowa.

It’s the second year in a row that an Ashe County tree has been selected for the White House. A tree from Alleghany County was the White House tree in 2005. This is North Carolina’s 11th year of supplying a White House tree, nearly twice as many times as any other state. (Wisconsin is second, with six White House trees.).

“The reason for it is because the tree grows naturally in the mountains of North Carolina - that’s the key,“ said Linda Gragg, the executive director of the N.C. Christmas Tree Association.

“Plus, the fact we have growers who love the trees. They want it to be the best.“

Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell.
@wsjournal.com.