AGAWAM — What makes good holiday memories? Some would say baking gingerbread cookies, singing carols, watching holiday films or decorating a tree. Others would say, it’s the sheer joy of the season as you’re spending time with loved ones and creating moments, you’ll cherish for years to come. For those in the Agawam community and surrounding areas, there’s a place that’s all about creating a holiday experience you’ll never forget.
Located at 539 Shoemaker Ln., the Glen Gary Christmas Tree Farm is 20 acres of 20,000 Christmas trees of all different ages. When you show up, they offer you a tractor ride out through the farm. They’ll drop you off at one of the sections that has the biggest trees where you get to cut your own tree. After you cut your tree, they’ll pick you up and bring you back to their barn, wrap the trees for you and you take them home. The farm also have an option if you don’t want to take the tractor ride and look for a Christmas tree, you can pick one of their fresh cuts and they’ll bail it for you and get you going.
David Fearn, one of the owners of Glen Gary Christmas Tree Farm said, “We only do Christmas trees. We do have a store where we have Christmas items, ornaments and lights, maybe some jewelry; different things like that, that are Christmas related. Our vision was to sell Christmas trees and utilize the land. That has come a long way.”
Back in 1985, Fearn and his father, Robert Fearn Sr. decided they needed to do something with the land because it wasn’t being used, so a friend suggested Christmas trees and thought it was a good idea. They started planting and planted about 2,500 trees that year. Then every year after that, they kept planting twenty-five hundred so they would have different aged trees.
“Our first sales were in 1990,” Fearn recalled. “We didn’t sell very many. It was new to us, but we sold 20-25 trees. After that, it just kept growing, and growing and growing, and word of mouth has really been our main way of getting new customers. Now that it’s 2024, we have a web presence, so people do see it and find us that way. We’re also members of the Massachusetts Christmas Growers Association and a lot of people get their information as well.”
He continued, “The most fun is the excitement people get. We have families that came out in the very beginning and now their children have families and they’re coming out, so it’s really cool to see multi-generations that have come through the farm.”
The farm’s off-season prep is a lot of mowing to keep the grass and weeds down so the trees can get a lot of nutrients and sunlight. Then they have to trim the trees in a conical shape to look like a Christmas tree. In the spring, they try to plant before Mother’s Day. That is when the fields aren’t too muddy and they can get seedlings shipped to them. They sell between 500 and 700 trees a year. Last year, they posted that they had such strong business that by Dec. 9 they were sold out and had to close for the season. Fearn said, “We’re predicting a similar season this year. With economy and what’s going on in the world, people want to start celebrating something good very early.”
In the meantime, the farm’s goal is to continue to create a quality tree for their customers and have enough trees for those that want one.
“The most fulfilling part for me is the families and the joy people have coming to the farm,” said Fearn. My grandchildren now come and they just have a great time. It’s a fun retail business. It’s an experience, I’m selling an experience more than a tree.”
Glen Gary Christmas Tree Farm’s hours are 9 a.m. until dusk starting the Friday after Thanksgiving and then only weekends after that. Visit their website at www.glengary.net and Facebook page at facebook.com/GlenGaryTrees. For questions, call 413-786-1558.
