NORTH ABINGTON TWP. – Larry Snyder has won numerous awards for his Christmas trees over the years, including a grand champion at the 2018 Pennsylvania Farm Show.
But the honor that Snyder earned on Aug. 9 left him speechless.
A Douglas fir from Snyder’s Mahantongo Valley Farms, in Schuylkill County, was named grand champion at the National Christmas Tree Association’s competition, held in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association summer meeting at Roba Family Farms.
The designation, which was determined by votes from more than 200 tree producers at the meeting, means that Snyder will present a tree from his farm to President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, which will be delivered to the White House around Thanksgiving.
There are standards for the selected tree: It must be 20-feet tall and perfect on all sides since it will be displayed in the middle of the Blue Room. Snyder’s tree was one of six in the running, competing against another tree from Pennsylvania, one from Maryland and two from New Jersey.
But before Snyder, 68, could absorb all the details, he had to take in the magnitude of what he just accomplished.
“The may be the most shocked I’ve been in all my life,” Snyder said after winning grand champion. “I’m happy, and I’m sure my family and the state association will be happy as well to have another Pennsylvania tree in the White House.”
Snyder’s tree is the eleventh from Pennsylvania to be chosen for the White House. Last year’s White House Christmas tree was a Fraser fir from North Carolina.
One person who knows the importance of providing a Christmas tree for the White House is Chris Botek, president of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association.
Botek, who owns Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton, won the nation contest three times, providing a tree for the White House in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Botek also provided trees on two other occasions when the national winner didn’t have a tree that met the size requirements on their farm.
“It’s an amazing feeling. To be here and win the national contest is one thing, then to present a tree to the Frist Lady, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Botek said. To provide the nation’s Christmas tree is an honor and a privilege.”
And the beginning of a hectic sequence of events for the grand champion grower.
In September, officials from the First Lady’s office will visit Snyder’s farm near Pitman to select a tree. Shape, color and height are important, along with the tree’s branch arrangement for displaying ornaments.
After that, the tree will be delivered to the White House on the Monday before Thanksgiving, where it will be prepared for a lavish ceremony days later.
Snyder and his family will be front and center during the entire process, and they’ll also be highly sought after by the media.
“This is probably the most publicized agricultural event anywhere in the U.S., said Paul Schroeder, president of the National Christmas Tree Association. “The media will come calling.”
Snyder said he has several trees on his farm that fit the height requirement for the White House, but for now he’s content to enjoy the honor and wait for it to sink in.
“It might take a while because I really can’t believe it,” Snyder said. “It’s just an incredible feeling knowing that one of my trees will be in the White House this Christmas.”
A tree for the Vice President as well
The reserve grand champion tree – a blue spruce from John Wyckoff’s farm in New Jersey – will be displayed in the residence of Vice President Mike Pence. In addition, the national tree for 2020 was also chosen at the Aug. 9 meeting. Dan Taylor of West Virginia earned the honor to present a tree for the Blue Room of the White House in 2020, while Dave Vander Velden of Wisconsin will provide a tree for the Vice President.
Vander Velden won the national contest in 2016 and present a balsam fir to the White House.
“It’s like winning the Super Bowl and a gold medal at the Olympics. For a tree grower, it doesn’t get any better than this,” he said. “You become known as the farm that grew a tree for the White House.”
