Wilmington’s Tammen Treeberry Farm a Christmas destination since the 1950s

For many, the weekend after Thanksgiving is the time to switch into Christmas mode. This means planning, shopping and decorating.

These three activities come together as one at Tammen Treeberry Farm in Wilmington, as many families descend on the 411-acre farm the weekend after Thanksgiving to select the newest member of their family: a live Christmas tree.

“The best part is coming out and arguing about which one we want,” Melissa Berndt said with a laugh.

Berndt and her family, including Addyson, 6, and Maverick, 4, travel about 30 miles from Lockport each year to take part in the holiday tradition of getting a real Christmas tree. Berndt said this has been a tradition since Addyson was a baby.

And her family is not alone.

Sarah Gruber of Essex, the daughter of farm owners Bruce and Becky Tammen, works for the family business and said that about 500 trees were sold the Friday after Thanksgiving.

“The day after Thanksgiving is always our busiest day,” she said, “then less each day after. We get the crowds that want to avoid the lines and chaos.”

After a family selects its tree, it has the option to put it on the shaker to shed loose branches and then take it to the baler to be condensed and wrapped for ease of transport.

Gruber’s daughter, Alice, was busy in the field the afternoon of Nov. 30 putting trees through the baler.

“It’s really a family experience,” Gruber said, noting that the business’ tagline is “a family tradition.”

“There’s people telling us all the time, ‘We’ve been coming out here since I was a little kid, and now I bring my grandchildren here,’” she said.

Gruber said they often see repeat families every year, as well as families looking for a seasonal backdrop for their Christmas card photo. At the beginning of November, a couple was engaged on the farm.

This situation wasn’t the first time love has grown on the farm, as Becky Tammen said two workers ended up getting married after meeting while working on the farm as young adults.

Currently, there are about 30 farm employees, many of whom are part-time workers.

Family business

Gruber and her husband, Chris, both work different full-time jobs, but Sarah and her siblings, Hannah Villarreal and Matthew Tammen, hope to one day take over the family business that was started after their grandfather, Lorenz Tammen, began planting trees in 1953.

Later that decade, he would begin selling the trees, and by the 1960s, he began growing blueberries for picking.

Lorenz’s son, Bruce, took over the farm when Lorenz died in the early 1990s. Bruce and Becky raised Sarah, Matthew and Hannah on the farm.

“This has been most of my life,” Bruce said. “I’m glad to see that people coming to get their tree is their family tradition.”

The farmer said they typically plant between 3,000 and 4,000 trees annually. However, he noted that they’ve lost most of the trees over the past several years because of drought and flooding.

“It’s been extreme weather in recent years,” he said.

Sarah said there also has been change with people opting to buy artificial trees for convenience, but there are many who want the live tree experience. She said families enjoy it, as they’re able to “do something tangible for a day.”

Although the weekend after Thanksgiving is the busiest on the farm, that is far from the only time activities are happening. Around the Fourth of July is when blueberry picking begins, and this year the Tammens began experimenting with offering pumpkins for fall.

“We’re just always looking for something to do and to welcome new families,” Sarah said.

Tammen Treeberry Farm is located at 37131 Essex Road, Wilmington, and also participates in various farmers markets. For more information, go to facebook.com/TammenTreeberryFarm.

Shaw Media’s Tiffany Blanchette contributed to this story.