Finding just the right tree
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 29, 2015 3:05 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Marley Convers, 9, measures her height against a tree while her family looks for just the right one for their home at the Goldsboro Optimist Club's Christmas tree lot on Cashwell Drive Saturday. This year's tree sales are off to a great start, club members said, despite unseasonably warm temperatures.
"I found a 50-foot high tree!" Mikey Convers exclaimed Saturday afternoon amid the maze of Fraser firs on the Goldsboro Optimist Club's tree lot.
It was actually a price tag, with the $50 versions coming in far short of the 7-year-old's estimation. But that did not lessen his enthusiasm for the quest for a family tree.
He and siblings Marley, 9, and Junior Convers, 8, were accompanied by mom Emily Convers and Lowell Taylor.
"We want a big fat one," Taylor said. "We're looking for one about eight feet high. That's the game plan."
Taylor, from Goldsboro, was an Optimist Club members years ago and remains loyal.
"I always try to support them," he said. "I know what the money goes to."
The kids, meanwhile, appeared content to weave in and out of the aisles of trees.
"This is not an obstacle course. This is not a maze," Taylor said, reminding them of their mission.
Ahead of them lay another tradition -- trimming the tree, Emily Convers said.
"We usually make hot chocolate and cookies and pie and play Christmas music," she said.
First things first, Taylor said, reminding her of the State-Carolina football game airing Saturday afternoon.
"After the game, the Christmas music is going on," she said.
Last weekend marked the return of the annual tree sale, said Raymond Clark, Optimist Club president.
"They brought in the first load of trees (last weekend), 180, but then they brought 170 (Saturday)," he said.
The tree farm the club relies on is in Avery County near the mountains. How quickly the current stock is depleted will determine when another order is placed, Clark said.
"Hopefully we'll need to call them in a week," he said. "But then, we are the Optimist Club."
Veteran member Bill Edgerton, who has been at the helm "forever -- I think they build the club around him," Clark quipped, keeps track of the sales figures.
Friday, the group sold a record 48 trees.
"We had all kinds of children running in and out. It was like a jungle gym," said Clark's wife, Dawn Clark, secretary/ treasurer of the club, of the Black Friday crowd.
Prices range from $30 to $200, the latter being about 14-feet high. Handmade wreaths, from $14-23, are also available for sale. The stand is open weekdays, noon to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays 1-6 p.m.