Llewyn Fuhrman-Renwick, 3, helps his dad, Nathan, drag the family's recently hewn Christmas tree to the pay station at Cypher's Christmas Tree Farm in Butler Township as his sister Marlowe, 1, follows behind. The Center Township family chose a tree and tagged it before coming back to cut it down and take it home after Thanksgiving.

It’s the centerpiece that heralds the holiday season in most houses, but it starts out as a sapling about a dozen years before going home with its owner to be decorated.

Whether a family decides on a real tree for the coniferous aroma, tradition, a trip to the country or to support a local business, the result has been several Christmas tree farms in the area hopping with business lately.

Randy Cypher of Cypher’s Tree Farm in Butler Township is also third-generation Christmas tree farmer. His grandfather charged $2 per Christmas tree in the early 1960s when he began selling them.

Trees now cost an average of $10 per foot.

Cypher sells about 1,200 to 1,500 Christmas trees per year from his 45 acres of fields.

He said some customers have mentioned that they are buying a real tree this year as a pick-me-up during the pandemic.

“It takes your mind off of all the ugly stuff going on, so it’s a nice change,” Cypher said.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Sunday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article and learn how other Christmas tree farmers are fairing.