CHARLOTTE BERRY has sold Christmas trees and wreaths in Brunswick for 10 years.
Charlotte Berry is a people person. She laughs. She laughs a lot. Nearly all the time, in fact. She sells Christmas trees and wreaths in the Brooks Feed and Farm parking lot on Union Street in Brunswick. She’s been doing it for years.
Here’s her take on the job:
This is not my first year selling trees, oh no. (laughter)
No. I’ve been selling here, probably, about 10 years or so, I think.
The rest of the year? Sometimes I deliver The Times Record. (laughter) Babysit, too. (laughter)
My dad got into it first and I just took over for him. He started down on the Bath Road. Then my sister went into business with him there and he just let her have it.
Then he moved here and I came into it with him. ( laughter) He’s retired, but, oh, he still comes over here to bug me. (laughter) Yeah, he does. (laughter) My son helps me, and his friend helps us usually, too.
We sell around 300 trees a year. Yup. I think this coming weekend will be our busiest. We’ll sell 50 on a good day, easy.
Usually, I try to be sold out by my sister’s birthday, which is the 19th. (laughter) I’m out of here. I try not to buy more than I’m positive I can sell. (laughter)
I don’t like those spring bonfires. (laughter)
Oh yes, sometimes it gets really cold out here. We have a little heater inside the trailer and usually it doesn’t keep us very warm. It barely takes the chill off. (laughter)
It’s fun. It is. You meet all the people and there are return customers, you know. We’re pretty friendly. (laughter) Yeah.
We’ve got wreaths, too. The big ones, we make. The small ones, I order those from Waldoboro.
The trees come from Bangor. They’re grown in Maine, they are — not like some places where they say, “Product of Canada.” (laughter) Yup, Maine-grown trees and family-made wreaths. (laughter)
It gives me Christmas money, anyway, you know. It pays a bill or two in the winter. (laughter)
I like it. I do. Meeting most of the people is the best part — all the different people who come over, sometimes it’s like a family reunion. (laughter)
You see people you know, but you only see them once a year. This is it. Right here. (laughter)
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