Trekking through dry brush and bristly green trees, families walked through Roger Schultz Community Park on Saturday morning in search of the perfect Christmas tree.
Manhattan Parks and Recreation held its fifth annual Red Cedar Holiday Harvest Saturday, allowing families to cut down and take home their own trees for free, which in turn, helped clear out the invasive species and encouraged growth of grass and hardwood trees.
Parks and Recreation staff members, Manhattan firefighters and Riley County police officers helped haul trees back to the main clearings and to cars, and Habitat for Humanity also volunteered to deliver trees to homes. Back at the main site, Britt’s Farm offered hayrides and Radina’s and Varsity Donuts provided hot drinks and donuts.
“For whatever reason they’re here, (people) love to come out here as a family … and cut down their tree,” said Ryan McKee, recreation supervisor for the parks and recreation department. “We help them bring it back, we tag it for them, and the firemen are here and RCPD is also here to help them load it to their vehicles. We just try to make it as convenient as possible for everybody to have fun.”
Melissa and Axel Wolff of Manhattan said picking out a live tree with their four children, ages 2 to 8, is a holiday mainstay. Axel said they appreciate the authenticity of the experience, as well as the smell and feel that isn’t quite replicable in artificial Christmas trees.
“We don’t need more plastic stuff in the world,” Melissa added, “and real trees are good for the air, it’s good for the Earth, it’s more beautiful and it’s a good experience to cut (one down) as a family and come pick out a real tree. … The best things in life require some effort.”
The couple said normally they’d like to spend the holidays with family in Washington state, but they plan to stay put this year because of the coronavirus and are trying to make sure things feel the same as in past years. After they picked out their tree, the Wolffs spent the rest of their time in the park cutting off boughs and branches to decorate their home.
“We like to do a lot of preparation, and we tend to keep our Christmas stuff up all the way through the Christmas season, which ends mid-January,” Melissa said. “Right now, we’re decorating and preparing for Christmas and then we celebrate the longer Christmas season. … We try to keep our trees and stuff alive all through that whole time. We’ll probably put the tree up now and we’ll put lights on it, but we won’t put ornaments on until Christmas Eve.”
Valerie and Eddie Shaw of St. Marys said they saw Saturday’s event as an opportunity to take their eight children, ages 1 to 14, to enjoy a new, fun experience since there have not been as many public activities this year. Valerie said the couple felt it was a good way to spend quality time together after the past year was impacted from the virus.
Outfitted in matching elf and Santa hats, the family picked out a full, bushy cedar tree, and the Shaw children set out to find smaller ones to place throughout their home.
“They’re already talking like, ‘I’m going to put one in my room,’ or ‘We’re going to put one over here,’” Valerie said. “They’re super excited.”
McKee said he is grateful the department still hosted the tree harvest, and he said he thought it could serve as a relief from the events and stress of the past year.
“… In our department, we’ve been forced to not have a lot of our programming go on because of everything, so this is just something we can offer that gets people outside and do something together as a family or their friends,” McKee said. “… We’re offering hand sanitizer and masks and everything and keeping people distanced, but being outside, I think people are comfortable doing programs and enjoying themselves.”
