Above: The Turner Family (from left, Angie and Andy and sons Matthew and Bradley) of High Point look through the Christmas trees at Bickerstaff’s Trees in Sparta. At Left: Craft Vendor Tara Walker discusses a Christmas ornament from “Gully Wash Hollow Crafts” with Carolyn Ebright (right). In the background is vendor Sue Johner.

Tree event attendance good

Calls for inclement weather did not stop individuals from around the state who made their way to Alleghany County to participate in the county’s annual Choose and Cut Day held Dec. 3.

The Choose and Cut season, a cooperative effort between the Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce and the Choose and Cut farms that are members of the chamber, officially kicked off Nov. 18 and is slated to end Christmas Eve.

Bob Bamberg, the executive director of the Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce commented Monday it was hard to assess the success of the event.

“I haven’t talked with all the growers, but I’ve talked to or gotten reports from three growers who said they had good traffic all day,” Bamberg said. “The weather didn’t help us being gloomy and dark, but it’s hard to assess its impact.

“I think there is a lot of anticipation about traffic that was brought in because of the T.V. commercial and we’re going to look at the entries to the shopping spree,” he continued. “We want to see how many people mention coming up here because of the commercial.”

Bamberg also stated, “I think the situation with the Deals helped spark interest in the county and we hope it extended out of the county. One of the important factors in evaluating the choose and cut season is talking to the growers to see how their season went and what the visitors said.”

David Isner, a horticulture agent for the Alleghany Cooperative Extension Service, said traffic at the tree farms was heavy this year.

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