Paula White
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 18/98) - Charlie Brown would have been proud.

He would have been proud because the Christmas trees in the lot run by the Yellowknife Scouts have almost all been sold. The only trees left are ... well, Charlie Brown trees.

"We're sold out early," said Scouts fund-raising chair Beaton MacKenzie.

"Last year we sold out by Dec. 14. Basically we're about the same this year."

At the first of December, the Scouts' lot, located at Wal-Mart, held about 210 trees altogether, including 12 Scotch pine, 30 Balsam fir, eight Noble fir and six Grant fir. The rest were Douglas fir. As of Wednesday evening, there were only about 23 trees left in the lot.

MacKenzie said the trees range in size as well as variety, from four feet tall to seven feet. There were also about 25 trees over the eight-foot mark. MacKenzie explained this is the first year in 14 the Scouts have had trees that tall.

"And those are the trees that went the fastest," he said. "We sold our tall trees before anything else."

MacKenzie added the money raised from the sale of the Christmas trees goes toward various Scout programs and activities throughout the year. He said all the members, from beavers to Ventures, take their turns working the lot.

Just down the street a ways, at the only other Christmas tree lot in Yellowknife, sales are going well too.

"I'd say it's going exactly as we expected," said John Best, owner of the Best Little Tree Lot. "I'm virtually sold out."

Best explained this is his 10th year for selling Christmas trees in Yellowknife, and as a result, he has established a sizeable clientele. Many of his trees are ordered as much as a year in advance, so they are already spoken for when they arrive.

Best said all of his stock is hand-selected earlier in the year from various tree farms and then at "tree time," they are shipped to the North. The trees are brought in from farms in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Utah.

"We do buy them where we get the best quality and shipping costs work out for us."

Aside from the trees sold out of the lot, Best also ships many to communities in Nunavut and Western Arctic. When all is said and done, he deals with between 500 and 600 trees.

"I just love the fact that we're here and we're local," he said.

Unless he sells out beforehand, Best plans to close his lot on Sunday.

"Then I get to go and put up my tree," he laughed.