#Shoplocal: Christmas trees in Oakland

Christmas Tree 2014

Thanksgiving went by and I didn’t blog because I wanted to be truly present for my family. We had a fantastic day, even though my two daughters couldn’t be with us. Meg is in Aspen, Colorado working at Little Nell, a 5 Diamond/5 Star resort where the rooms go for upwards of $3,000 to $6,000 a night (that is not a typo) and Samantha is still in Charleston, SC, the land of “beautiful places, smiling faces.”

But son Burke came home from his job in Franklin, Massachusetts as a Resident Director at Dean College and head  soccer coach at Lasell College. We got to spend a lot of hours prepping veggies, chatting, watching a new show (Peaky Blinders) keeping our Golden Retriever from eating wood chips off the hearth and otherwise doing some family bonding.

I just couldn’t bring myself to do any Black Friday shopping, except to peruse the art and crafts at Common Street Gallery in Waterville. After a long coffee out and the gallery, I just didn’t want to go home quite yet. So we decided to drive around and look at the Christmas trees.

After we looked at the egregiously priced trees an a local hardware store, we headed to a place we’d bought from a few years ago. In sleepy Oakland, Maine, the Lions Club sells trees every year at the site of the old Cascade Mill (off Rt. 23) right before the big intersection in Oakland.

The couple running the “store” today were so sweet, telling us the every penny of the money from the sale of Christmas trees goes to Oakland kids. The tree is gorgeous and cost $30, easily half what it would cost elsewhere.

AND….drum roll….for no added cost, another sweet guy DELIVERS the tree to your door. Oh, not to your door. If you’re us, Frick and Frack, he kindly agrees to wait til Henry David Thoreau the crazy Golden calms down and I get the tree stand from the basement. He sets the tree in the stand then tightens the screws to steady it, because my hands just have lost the strength to do it.

This is the epitome of “#shopsmall. The money stays local, helps local families and the people you meet add to the “reason for the season.”  Buy your tree in Oakland or at your own local charity-based organization and feel good in the bargain.

 

 

 

 

Kate Cone

About Kate Cone

Kate Cone has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, is a freelance writer and the author of "What's Brewing in New England: A Guide to Brewpubs and Microbreweries," published by Downeast Publications in 1997 and completely updated in 2016. She has been a foodie since age 8, when her dad taught her how to make coffee and an omelet, lifelong skills for happy eating.