Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 17/99) - The smell of Christmas is in the air at the Best Little Tree Lot.

Rows of Scotch Pine, Douglas Fir, Fraser and Grand Fir stand waiting to enjoy Christmas in a warm home.

Mike Best works in the lot alongside his dad, John. After spending the last week selling hundreds of trees, the high school student is becoming quite an expert on the different characteristics of each tree species.

"The types of needles are different and they give off different smells," Mike said.

"Grand Firs smell a little like lemons and citrus, Balsams give off a unique, aromatic balsam fragrance, and Scotch Pine, well, they have a strong piney smell."

John and his wife Cheryl have been bringing Christmas trees into the North for 11 years. What started as a futile search for their own tree has grown into a pretty good little business for them.

"There wasn't many people selling trees in Yellowknife a decade ago. I'm not afraid of the bush so I headed out to find my family a Christmas tree," he said.

"I got the tree home and set it up in the house and within a few hours all the needles fell off."

Frustrated, John called his uncle down south and had him fly a tree up. It cost him $225 but it was a fine tree.

"It was beautiful so everybody wanted us to order them one for next year," he said.

The next year the Bests decided to put up enough money for a half truckload of trees to be shipped up. They sold that shipment no problem and have sold-out every year since then. This year, they brought up 700 trees and are selling about 100 of them a day. The lot, located in the Frame Lake Extra Foods parking lot, is hopping.

"When we start getting low in stock people get pretty excited, but it's Christmas, so everybody is happy and it's generally a good feeling all around. We have a lot of fun," John said.

John had some quick reminders for Christmas tree enthusiasts. The first is to try not to pick them up and shake them. He only brings in the finest trees from tree farms all over Canada, and they all have a high concentration of water in them.

"They're very fragile when they're frozen so take it easy getting them home," he said.

"Also, when you get them up, do a fresh cut on the base. If you can, it's best to cut the bottom right off. With a proper cut, they'll stay fresh for two weeks and they'll drink up as much as eight litres of water a day."