Dart's Christmas Tree Farm to close after more than 50 seasons in Southold
When Santa is packing his sleigh for work on Christmas Eve afternoon, Ed Dart will be closing up shop for the final time at Dart’s Christmas Tree Farm in Southold. The Dart family has decided to make 2023 its final season.
“We’ve run out of energy. It’s a tremendous amount of work for my wife and I to keep up the speed on it,” says Dart, who co-owns and runs the farm with his wife, Judy. The couple is in their mid-70s. “This is going to be our retirement year. We passed our 50th year of doing it in 2021. Somehow we didn’t know how to quit and we mustered up the energy to do it again for two more years. This time we are going to have to pull the plug.”
The 17-acre farm dates back to 1753, but it has been in Dart’s family for the last 100 years. He is the third generation to run the business and started the choose- and cut-your-own Christmas tree element after he graduated college.
“We had our first Christmas tree crop that my father Fred had planted in 1971,” says Dart. “Since then the season has shifted so much. It now starts before Thanksgiving. We officially open on Black Friday, but people start showing up the weekend before. This causes us to work a little harder and run a little faster to get ready. This is why it’s so tiring.”
Ed Dart, owner of Dart's Christmas Tree Farm in Southold, reflects on his business Dec. 15. Credit: Randee Daddona
Dart is very specific about the types of Christmas trees he sells. His trees of choice? Fraser fir and Nordman fir.
“I like the old-fashioned style trees that have personality and character,” he says. “The Frasers and Nordmans have stiff branches that hold a heavier ornament and display it nicely.”
The farm is also known for selling Christmas trees in a variety of colors like Bubble Gum Pink, Snowfall White and Sugar Plum Purple. On premise there’s a Magic Color Forest where visitors can snap selfies with a rainbow of trees.
“I thought that would be novel because nobody was doing it,” says Dart. “It attracted a whole new set of customers from far and wide.”
Over the years, the Darts have added on various holiday activities to accompany a tree selection such as a fire pit where hot chocolate and pretzels are sold and selfie stations around the property like an elf house, a rustic wooden forest backdrop and an abominable snowman.
“There’s a lot of moving parts to get it up and running,” says Dart. “It’s quite an operation which has gotten more complex.”
There’s also a gift shop inside an 18th-century barn which sells homemade Christmas wreaths which are assembled by hand from scratch, holiday ornaments, permanent garland and various decorative Christmas items. For the Darts, all of this planning starts in the spring.
“While everybody else is thinking about a piña colada on the beach, I’m thinking about Christmas ribbons,” says Dart. “It’s hard to wrap your head around it because I want a piña colada, too, but I can’t. That’s why I need to break free from the chains of the Christmas season.”
The hot item in the gift shop this year has been nautically-themed ornaments such as a starfish, sea horse, jellyfish, lobster, crab, pelican and flamingo.
“People love that it’s beachy,” says Rebecca Abatelli, assistant manager of the gift shop. “We’ve never done it before and everyone grabs at least one off the tree to purchase.”
Abatelli, who has worked at the farm for more than 12 years, is emotional about saying goodbye.
“Working at the farm and being part of all these families’ holiday traditions makes it so special for me,” she says. “Christmas will definitely not be the same.”
However, the farm is going to continue in agriculture with its privacy screening trees business, which is used as property hedges.
“The Christmas tree business was always a sideline for me,” says Dart. “We plant privacy trees around people’s backyards. I feel very committed to keeping our farm as an ongoing agricultural enterprise.”
Recalling the impact the farm has made, Dart says he's come across countless "heart-touching stories."
"You would not believe how many heart-wrenching stories are connected with the Christmas tree business," Dart says, recalling a woman who visited the farm this season looking for a Christmas tree in her late daughter's favorite color, purple.
When asked what he will miss from his Christmas tree business, Dart says, “The personal relationships, the smiles and accolades that I get from the people who come to the farm during the Christmas season are my greatest compensation by far. It’s what fuels me and the most painful part of having to end it.”
David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.
