Father & Mother Christmas

As a young man in Duluth, Roy Halvorson tried his hand at selling used cars, playing saxophone in a dance band, and packing tomatoes in a fruit-and-vegetable company. But when the Depression struck in 1930, he decided to look around for a business of his own. He did not have to look far. North of Duluth there were forests of scraggly spruce trees; the tops, thought Halvorson, would make fine miniature Christmas trees for use on dinner tables and in small apartments—if he could find a way to preserve them.

For months Roy Halvorson cut trees on weekends and brought them home. At night he and his wife Ede tried out hundreds of ways to color and preserve them. Finally, they perfected a solution that would keep them fresh for weeks, even in the warmest living room. Their secret: a formula of water and plant foods which, when sealed in a metallic tree base, acts as an artificial sap. Using that process, Roy and Ede Halvorson have since built up the biggest processed Christmas-tree business in the world.

At the peak of the Christmas-tree rush last week, the Halvorsons were shipping 20 carloads a day from their processing plant in Duluth. This year, they will sell a record 1,250,000 trees in the U.S and in almost every foreign country. Expected gross: more than $1,000,000 on their booming tree business and new additions to their line; a gift box including tree and miniature ornaments ($6.85), miniature electric-light strings with bulbs about twice the size of kitchen match heads ($8.95).

While Halvorson's miniature trees may be fine for apartment dwellers, the Halvorsons have old-fashioned ideas about Christmas trees. Says Roy: "I'd ask my crews to find me a good Christmas tree this year—a big one. But they're so used to cutting the small ones, they have lousy taste for big ones. So Ede and I will have to go down to the corner lot and buy one that will satisfy us."