Research shows Black Friday as most popular day to buy Christmas trees; local fundraiser kicks off annual sale

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

According to data from last year, Black Friday is one of the most popular times to buy a Christmas tree.

Square research from 2023 found more than 53,000 Christmas trees were sold on Black Friday. This is due to sellers having a larger tree supply a the beginning of the season.

Square reports that prices began to slowly decline with an increased drop-off typically starting a week before Christmas, as sellers try to sell off their remaining stock. The study found that by Dec. 17, more than 90% of the trees in stock had been sold.

On Friday, The Downtown Optimist Club, a youth development organization in Columbia, will also launch its annual Christmas Tree Lot fundraiser at 1201 Grand Ave.

This year, the fundraiser has more than 1,200 trees purchased out of pocket from North Carolina and Michigan and will remain open until Dec. 24 or until trees run out. At the lot, volunteers help wrap, trim, and load trees onto cars free of charge. Trees range in cost from $40 to a little under $200 and all proceeds from the sale fund local community nonprofits.

Hours include:

• Monday to Thursday: 1 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Friday: 1 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Sunday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

The fundraiser also offers additional treats and decorations.

According to volunteer and member of the Optimist Club CO Scheffer, the group raised around $30,000 last year to help fund more than 45 different organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, Fun City Youth Academy, and Columbia Housing Authority.

Scheffer, who has volunteered with the club for around 16 years, told ABC 17 News it can be difficult to stock some varieties of trees with the group's Scotch Pine supplier facing disease this year. However, Scheffer is happy with the number of trees the group bought.

"We got enough that we'll be able to get pretty much everybody who wants one a Christmas tree this year," Scheffer said.

The fundraiser began 75 years ago and first operated out from under the bleachers of Hickman High School. With this legacy, many Columbia families have incorporated the Downtown Optimist Club into their holiday traditions.

"We've actually been coming since 1996 for my husband and I's very first Christmas," patron Christine Morgan said. "We had someone who worked at the Optimist Club and he's like, 'You should get your tree from here,' and so we've done that ever since."

According to Scheffer, the opportunity to hear different stories and the opportunity to be a part of a community is what keeps him coming back.

"Being a part of people's family's tradition and watching families grow, I've seen kids go from babies to grown up being teenagers now," Scheffer said, "Being a tiny part of that tradition's really cool."

High school student Makayla Golden has never volunteered with the Downtown Optimist Club until this year in order to raise money for Hickman High School's "Hickman Review." The organization raises money by selling smaller "Charlie Brown Tree" decorations from the excess Christmas Tree branches.

"I love Christmas and also I love my club and I really want our magazine to get published, but also being here everyone's really happy and I love it, so I might just have to do it on my own time, it's great," Golden said.