A 19-foot Frasier fir now stands tall at the Minnesota State Capitol thanks to Happy Land Tree Farms in Sandstone which delivered the tree to St. Paul on Tuesday just in time for the holiday season.
Happy Land Tree Farms was the 2024 Minnesota State Fair Christmas Tree Grand Champion for a third-straight year which came with the honor of placing one of their Christmas trees in the rotunda.
"This tree is quite a bit bigger," said Myra Olson with Happy Land Tree Farms. "We do try to grow some of our trees to be larger. A lot of them get bigger so we have some available for things like this or we have people who want to purchase larger trees for different reasons like churches, mansions, and things like that."
Olsen told WCCO Radio that Minnesota State Capitol staff will decorate the tree, but transporting the tree is up to the tree farm and takes a little extra planning.
"It's definitely a much bigger job to cut a 19-foot tree. Our crew goes out and cuts it down with a chainsaw. We use a skid steer to load it on to a trailer and we transport it to St. Paul. The capitol has several maintenance workers who haul it up the steps and put it into a tree stand."
Minnesota's up-and-down weather helped the tree-growing season this year.
Olson says there was enough rain in the summer before a drought in the fall, with more rain prior to their tree-cutting season.
As for the tree-buying season, it's already been busy since opening last weekend, especially with just under a month between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
"It tends to consolidate people into a shorter timeframe," Olson said. "I think people are just starting to get out and buy trees a little bit earlier. It's still kind of spreads it out throughout the season pretty good."
As for the debate between getting a fake tree, or buying a real one, Olson adds there are still a lot of people looking for the Christmas tree farm experience.
"We do see that amount of people growing over the years. A lot of our customers like to have the experience more so than just having that tree in their home. They like the experience of going out, cutting the tree, and making that family tradition."
Despite rising costs for tree growers, Happy Land Tree Farms has not increased their tree prices over the past year.
Trees are available at their Sandstone farm, or at the St. Paul Christmas Tree Lot located at The Keg and Case Market.