Though it’s easy to anticipate, nothing can really prepare you for the wall of scent that hits you when you walk through the front door of the Elf Shoppe at Snow Line Tree Company in Kalispell.
The first thought that pops to mind is “green,” quickly followed by “Christmastime” after the smells of dozens of trees, evergreen wreaths and centerpieces all combine; it’s crisp and clean, and powerful enough to make you comment on it.
And when you do, Carolyn Little, who owns Snow Line with her husband Tom, will just smile. Having worked at the enterprise for 32 years, she’s heard it all.
“We have people that were just children when they started coming here, and now they are bringing their children and grandchildren,” Little said.
Snow Line celebrates its 60th year in business this year, having been started by Tom Little’s father-in-law and his business partners in 1955. Theirs is an interesting business, selling trees while living among the bountiful forests of Northwest Montana.
The trees are there in the forests, Little said, but not everyone is able or wants to wander the woods in search of a perfect tree. And for a lot of people, buying a tree at a shop is their tradition.
They get their trees from their Ferndale farm, which started at around 300 acres but has shrunk down to 40 acres these days. The trees they don’t grow themselves come from Wisconsin, as well as the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
“We buy all of our wild trees from (the CSKT),” Little said.
A good selection of trees and decorations are important, Little said, but their employees play a major role in keeping the business rolling. Most have been there for 20-plus years, she said.
The Elf Shoppe is a friendly corner of the business, full of wreaths and centerpiece decorations, most created at the hands of Marilyn Brady, who has built evergreen decorations for Snow Line for 19 years.
Her room in the back of the shop is covered in glitter and full of ribbons and bows, and the ever-important heat lamp. She started working with Snow Line as a way to cope with the anniversary of her father’s death, which occurs a few days before Christmas, and has been there every season since.
Her creations are simple and elegant, with bows appointing the boughs and glitter adorning the pinecones. Classic designs are popular, she said, because they induce the festive spirit.
“I think that’s what people come here to buy, the ones that feel like Christmas,” Brady said.
In the tree barn – a covered area with sawdust floors over which the trees hang from chains – is like a forest without roots, as trunks sway just inches above the ground. Clinton DeLong has worked as a tree farmer for Snow Line for nearly 50 years, having started his career in the tree business as a 16-year-old boy loading trucks at a tree farm in Plains.
He liked the work so much he worked on the tree farm in the summer, and then moved to Kalispell and started working with Snow Line. He’s been there for 48 years this year.
“I like to work outside,” DeLong said, surprising no one within earshot. “The summertime’s great.”
They plant trees in cycles, DeLong said, with the hope that a new batch will be ready each year. Their inventory includes balsam, grand fir, alpine, Scotch pine, Fraser fir, white pine, and the traditional Douglas fir.
Ten years is a long time to spend nurturing a crop, though when asked if he ever feels saddened when he cuts down a tree he’s been shepherding for a decade, he just chuckles and says “no,” he doesn’t have to be sad because they just plant new trees.
“That’s why it probably never bothered me,” he said.
And while the product might be sustainable, DeLong said the business of selling trees has been at a steady decline, likely due to the rise in popularity of artificial trees.
“It’s an average year,” DeLong said of tree sales. “To try to have a really good year anymore, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Despite the decline, Little is optimistic about this year’s sales. She said it’s been a “very good year,” and that an extra bonus of her job is working with happy customers.
“Everyone is happy when they come here,” she said.
And with 99 years of Christmas tree experience among them, it seemed appropriate to ask Little, Brady, and DeLong to describe what makes the perfect tree for the holiday season. Their No. 1 answer?
The scent.
For more information on Snow Line Tree Company, visit www.snowlinetreecompany.com. Operations shut down for the season on Dec. 15.