When the horse-drawn wagon pulls up to the White House at Christmastime 2016, it will deliver an 18-foot-tall jewel from Oconto County. Dave and Mary Vander Velden, of Whispering Pines Tree Farm in Oconto, have been selected to present a Christmas tree to the first lady in 2016.
The Vander Veldens earned the honor after their Balsam fir was named co-grand champion of the National Christmas Tree Association’s 2015 National Christmas Tree Contest.
A Douglas fir grown by Jay and Glenn Bustard, of Bustard’s Christmas Trees in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, was the other co-grand champion. Each farm earned the privilege of presenting the official White House Christmas Tree. The NCTA hosts the tree contest biennially, so two champions were chosen. Bustard will present a tree for 2015 and Vander Veldens for 2016.
“I was ecstatic when I heard my name called. The national tree contest is the Super Bowl for Christmas trees. … What an honor,” Dave Vander Velden said. “And the competition is very intense. My dad, Jerry, and I spent a lot of time making sure the tree looked its best. But I don’t deserve all the credit. The great crew we have working on my farm have helped us reach this goal.”
White House staff members typically travel to the grand champion’s farm in the fall to select the tree that will serve as the centerpiece of the Blue Room holiday decorations. The Blue Room tree will be 18 1/2 feet tall, much bigger than the 6- to 8-foot trees entered in the contest.
Vander Velden said he has three trees in mind for the White House staff members to view.
“One is very, very nice,” he said.
To enter NCTA’s national contest, growers must first win their state or regional competitions in the previous 24 months. A Balsam fir grown by Vander Velden was named the grand champion Wisconsin Christmas tree in 2014 by members of the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association. This summer, Vander Velden’s tree earned reserve champion honors at the state contest.
Vander Velden won the state contest four of the past six seasons, meaning he entered the national contest four times before receiving the coveted prize.
“It’s an honor just to give your tree to the people of the United States and to say your tree was in the capital,” Vander Velden said.
Vander Velden has been to Washington, D.C., a couple of times, and on one visit about 10 years ago viewed the Christmas tree on display at the White House.
“We waited five hours to see it,” he said, noting he was one of the first inside the White House, and the line never grew shorter.
He plans to deliver the tree to the White House with his wife and his parents, Jerry and Jean Vander Velden, when the four will be guests of the White House for a day.
“Once you’re a guest at the White House, you’re treated pretty well,” he said.
As for seeing one of his trees decorated and in the national spotlight, Vander Velden said, “It’ll be really impressive.”
Whispering Pines Tree Farm was founded in 1984. Dave and Jerry started the Oconto farm in 1988 with a garden tractor and 16 acres. The farm has grown to 200 acres.
The Vander Veldens operate a choose-and-cut farm, and offer activities such as visits with Santa and rides in a horse-drawn wagon or the Whispering Pines Express train. A candy store is popular with the children, while adults enjoy shopping in the holiday ornament shop at the lodge, where hot cocoa and other snacks are available.
The Vander Veldens also make wreaths and garland to sell, and they operate a retail tree lot in Green Bay.
