Christmas Tree Sales

I remember that we first set up a tree lot at the corner of Berry Street and University Drive.  The bank had bought a set of lots to build a large building and had cleared off the houses in 1968 or 1969.  We rigged up make shift lights and built a tar paper shelter house/flocking station.   The shelter house was a hovel unfit for winos, but it held up for the few weeks we were selling trees. 

Former Troop and Post member Doug Harrell was trying to make a living selling Christmas trees wholesale.  I think we were his first customer.  We had to buy all kinds of one time things like flocking equipment, a tree bagger, etc. to get started.  I think we broke even after all was said and done that year.  We did sell a lot of trees however.  We also learned a lot about keeping records and handling money. 

Terry Wilkes was the advisor at this point in time.  We ran into some issues with the Southside Optimist Club.  the Optimists had run a tree lot in a public park (Kellis Park) at South Drive and Trail Lake  for years.  They were complaining bitterly to the scout office that we were unfairly competing with them and costing them business.  The scout office initially told us to close and that we could not use BSA on our signage.  We converted the signage to "POST 52" and continued on.  Wilkes (a council commissioner at the time) convinced the professionals to leave us alone. 

I don't remember where we went skiing that year.  I don't think it was Taos.  The trip to Taos was very basic and we actually camped out and cooked over a fire.  We used the infamous blue panel truck and Jack's station wagon for transportation. 

In the years that followed the tree lots moved to other places and the trips involved more and more people.  A year or so after the first trip we stayed at Philmont and skied at I think Angel Fire.  We had a lot of vehicle trouble on that trip with a rented van.  This van cratered in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.  I made two trips in my car hauling post members stacked like cord wood through a howling snow storm.  We got it fixed by two shady characters "Cool Hand Luke" and the "Gas Man" who ran a decrepit service station and motel with their girl friend.  I don't remember the name we hung on her. 


That was my last ski trip with the post.  The tree lots were still going strong when I got transferred back to Fort Worth from Colorado in 1981.  Shortly after getting back to Cowtown, Jack asked me to be the committee chairman for both units.  I was stunned to find out how much money the tree lot was handling.  This was after the move to Ryan Olds on Alta Mere.  The ski trips had become very popular and were even more successful.  In a few years artificial trees took their toll and the post gave up on Christmas trees.  I'm not sure when the shrimp trips started but they were successful as well. 

When I joined the post in 1965 I never would have dreamed that we would run a successful business enterprise.  But then again we never knew where the journey would lead us or where it would end.