All in the Spirit
of the Season
by Linda Sones
to be done either by the headlights of a pickup or a flashlight be- cause he normally worked till almost dark. The first year, they sold between 50 and 100 trees. Right from the start, people wanted the Kohls to include wreaths for sale. Neither Stan nor his wife, Nancy, had any idea how to make a wreath. So, they found a lady to make wreaths for them during their second year of business. By year three of being in the tree business, they had started planting their own trees on their farm, continued to buy more pre-cut trees to sell at their second location in Northumberland, and started making their own wreaths by wrapping wire around the branches on a frame. This was a slow and painful process for the fingers. When the holidays moved in, they had only 75 wreaths ready for their guests. In 1989, major changes were made in their Tree and Wreath busi- ness. They bought a Christmas tree drill to put the hole in the trunk that actually goes onto a stand in the house or a pin in the lot. The other major upgrade was a wreath-making machine which crimped the frames around the branches rather than having to wire the branches fast. This greatly improved efficiency, and pro- duction of wreaths jumped to between 200 to 250 for the year. It worked so well that Stan made two others so they could have one
Christmas is a great time of year. And for people like Stan Kohl and his family, it’s always Christmas! Stan owns Kohl’s Stony Hill Tree Farm just outside of Washingtonville in Montour County. Through- out the years, he has turned an old farm into one of Santa’s work- shops that is certainly well worth a visit. Stan and his family purchased the farm back in November of 1986. At the time, it was quite run down; pretty much the only thing that was in good condition was the barn. The house had to be com- pletely renovated to even think about living in it. But there were a few blue spruces, Douglas firs, and Norway spruce trees planted on the farm. The blue spruce trees were nearly 16 feet tall, the Norway spruce were a little taller, and the Douglas fir a little short- er. Stan was able to start harvesting towards the end of November. These few trees became a passion that started him into the world of Christmas trees, ornaments, and a Guinness world record. In these early days, Stan was working full-time for his father-in-law in his machine shop, so having time off in order to sell Christmas trees was somewhat of an issue. Most of the trees he did cut had
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