Three tractor-trailer trucks, filled with Christmas trees, ready and waiting in the parking lot? Check.
Dozens of student-athletes from Yorktown and Washington-Liberty high schools, on hand at 7 a.m. to start unloading them? Check.
Mother Nature providing cooperative weather conditions? Check.
All was in readiness Nov. 22 at 7 a.m. as the two-hour process of disgorging 1,800 trees – freshly cut and arriving from Galax, Va., and Jefferson County, N.C. – onto the Optimist Club of Arlington’s tree lot at the back parking lot of the Knights of Columbus at Little Falls Road began.
White pines and Fraser firs, from table-top size to 9-footers, were unloaded and carefully stacked in their proper holding pens, all in preparation for the Nov. 24 (at noon) start of sales.
And it was only the first batch. Another 400 are slated to arrive in a few weeks.
As has been the case for at least the past five years, simply finding enough trees to meet community demand has proved a challenge for a wide array of organizations. Despite lengthy relationships with suppliers, Optimists have been no exception.
“We did get more, but not as much as we hoped,” said Optimist Club member Sandy Bushue, who each year serves as major-domo of the unloading-and-stacking operation.
Availability remains challenging, she said. “It is still a mess – especially for big trees,” Bushue said.
(The club was able secure one special-order 16-footer, which is destined for pride of place at Mercedes-Benz of Arlington.)
Optimists have been selling Christmas trees (along with wreaths, garlands and accoutrements) since 1946, with the resulting millions of dollars in funds used to support youth activities, including sports.
This year, the club opted to have the delivery slated for the day before Thanksgiving, a time when students are not in class and are available to provide the muscle needed. Members of the boys’ lacrosse teams from Yorktown and Washington-Liberty high schools, along with Washington-Liberty’s boys’ and girls’ crew teams, took part.
“This is an amazing bonding experience,” said Scott Evans, a member of the Yorktown Lacrosse Boosters and a father of one of the team members. “You get dirty, you get muddy.”
(Bushue was not hesitant in playing one group off against the other to keep momentum going. “I hear the lacrosse kids are slacking – is that true?” she trumpeted at one point.
Fortunately for those doing the unloading, the weather was almost as good as it gets for such an activity: cool but not cold, little wind, nothing falling from the sky.
“It’s a nine on a 1-to-10 scale – really terrific,” said Dr. John “J.B.” Whitlow, another Optimist Club leader.
Unfortunately for Whitlow, he had been tasked the day before to spend about four hours prepping the stand for the arrival of trees. A cold rain blew through most of the day.
“Yesterday it was a minus-one,” he rated the weather. “It was tough.”
Until two years ago, the club’s annual sale was conducted in the parking lot at the corner of North Glebe Road and Langston Boulevard. A succession of banking firms on the parcel allowed it to take place, but the club’s luck ran out in 2022 when it was booted out.
Fortunately, the Optimists last year connected with the Knights of Columbus in a win-win arrangement. It continues for 2023.
Sales will run Mondays through Thursdays from 2 to 8 p.m., Fridays from noon to 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. For information, see the Website at https://optimistclubofarlingtonva.com.