Weird Portland Wednesday: Oregon Christmas Trees

Photo: The Oregon Forest Resources Institute

I love to celebrate.  Anything.  Birthdays should last at least a week, anniversaries a couple of weeks, and weddings for the first year.  
 
**Whoa!  The sun is out!  Celebrate!  
**Hey! It's raining again!  Celebrate!
**YippeeSkippee!  I found the thangy that was missing!  Celebrate!

So of course, simply because Christmas has come and gone doesn't mean we should forget to celebrate little things that come up over the following year.  I mean, Christmas is only 345 days away :)

Oregon harvests more Christmas trees than any other state, nearly double what our nearest competitor, North Carolina, will harvest.  About 63,000 acres are planted and managed specifically for Christmas trees; the majority Douglas Firs.  In Oregon, Christmas trees are considered an agricultural crop and their acreage does not count as forestland. (The Oregon Forest Resources Institute)

Forty-five percent of the crop will go to California.  The rest are spread out among other Western states (10%), Atlantic and Gulf states (13%), Mexico (16%), and overseas to foreign markets (16%).  

We do have beautiful trees and a Christmas tree lot on about every corner—you know like Starbucks (which is on about every corner in Portland) but without the coffee.  Just trees and happy people selling them.  

So how do we get people to buy from a certain lot?  ADVERTISING!  Tell Portlanders what they want to hear!  

It's just one more way we keep Portland weird.

And so it goes
peace~~~