- November 23, 2024
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For almost four decades, Robin and Michael Gentry have assisted local families celebrate the holidays in perhaps the most emblematic way: helping them pick the perfect Christmas tree.
On Friday, Dec. 2, the Ormond Beach couple wrapped up their 37th and final season of selling Christmas trees in the community. Gardner Tree Farms have sold over 25,000 trees in Ormond Beach since 1985 when the Gentrys began their business, and Robin Gentry, a former teacher, jokes she and her husband could probably write a book about how many people they have interacted with and the stories they can recall over the years.
They were blessed with community support, Robin Gentry said.
"We've had a lot of tears this year — a lot of hugs, a lot of tears," she said. "Some [people] have been with us for 37 years. Some of my former students have worked with us, and now they're raising their families, and it's a tradition to come out here and pick out their tree."
The Gentrys began selling Christmas trees shortly after their second daughter was born. Robin Gentry's brother-in-law owned a tree farm in their hometown of Jefferson, North Carolina, and he suggested they sell his trees in Ormond Beach. All they needed was an empty lot, and, his Fraser firs.
"People are very passionate about their Christmas trees, even though it's just a once-a-year transaction," Michael Gentry said. "It's very important to them."
The couple started out in the lot currently occupied by Dunkin' Donuts at 300 S. Nova Road. They were there for 20 years, and when the lot sold, they moved their lot to Destination Daytona, as they both knew the late Bruce Rossmeyer and Chuck Strasser; Rossmeyer created Destination Daytona, and Strasser was one of his partners.
Strasser was also one of the Gentrys first customers.
Since the beginning, the Gentrys have opened the lot on Thanksgiving morning. They called their period of operation "the 12 days of Christmas," give or take a couple days depending on the year.
The first weekend after Thanksgiving was always their busiest, but memories were always made on Thanksgiving morning. The same familiar faces came to pick out their Christmas trees, and Strasser began a tradition of bringing everyone donuts. He would come early and pick out his trees and take his Christmas card photo too.
After Strasser's death, Dr. Jeff Parks continued the tradition.
"Chuck was instrumental in assisting in getting to the new location," Michael Gentry said. "Probably at the time, he worked harder on it than we did."
"Christmas was everything to him," Robin Gentry added.
She gets a thrill when she sees social media posts or receives texts from customers showing their trees. She doesn't personally know all of her customers, but seeing those posts or reading their comments is "the best," she said.
The Gentrys also enjoyed seeing over the years the number of families who took their Christmas card photos on their lot.
"And every year, as they add to the family, as children get older, the families grow, but it's still in front of the trees on the lot," Michael Gentry said. "Many of them, that goes back almost to the beginning, and certainly more prevalent now with iPhones and videos and all of that."
Robin Gentry's brother-in-law recently sold a portion of his tree farm, and that was what led to the couple's decision to close out their business. Her brother-in-law offered to find other trees for them to sell, but they knew it wouldn't have been the same. They decided it was time.
"It's bittersweet, particularly because the word initially got out that this was our last year," Michael Gentry said. "There were a lot of phone calls and texts, and then as people came to the lot, a lot of thoughts of them and their memories through the years — and a lot of tears."
One of the people that helped the couple run the lot for over 30 years was Sandy Hull. Robin Gentry said she couldn't have run the lot without her, and Michael Gentry called her a cornerstone for the couple.
"She's really been a godsend," he said. "She's seen her family grow up too."
Robin Gentry was often called the "tree lady." When she returned to teaching after she began operating the lot with her husband, some of her students would say, "You're my teacher and my tree lady."
"I'm like, 'Yes, I'm both," she recalled with a laugh.
The Gentrys always brought the trees down from North Carolina in a refrigerated trailer, and as they unloaded them, some years, some of the trees still had snow on them.
"And even this year when we unloaded — and it wasn't that humid here — but it was cold when they loaded the truck up home, and when we pulled them out, the steam was just rolling off them," Michael Gentry said. "So you could really get the aroma of a Christmas tree."
One of the questions Michael Gentry said he's fielded the most is what the couple will do for their own Christmas trees next year. The Gentrys put up five each Christmas.
"And honestly? I don't know yet," he said.
But what they do know is that they are thankful for the community's support. After 37 years, it's not the smell of the firs that they will miss — being around the trees so often, they've grown accustomed to it. The Gentrys said it's the people that they will miss the most.
"It's been a labor of love," Michael Gentry said. "The families that have created a bond through the Christmas trees, it's been a lifelong relationship."
