This week kicked off with rain, and according to one local Christmas tree grower, it was nicely timed.
"If [the rain] stays away for the remaining four or five days until Thanksgiving weekend, that's when we're going to do 50% of our total year," said Carl Holloway, owner of Holloway's Christmas Trees in Nipomo. "Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."
Carl Holloway and his wife Debbie have owned the Christmas tree farm for more than 60 years.
Carl tells me that the rain helped get their tree's ready to go home with families.
"It washes them off," he said. "We were in a real dusty spell, and I can only irrigate so much because the tree roots don't want to be wet, but they want to be cleansed almost and that's what rainwater is."
KSBY spoke to some Christmas tree shoppers, who wanted to come out early to get the best tree they could find. They say the rain didn't deter them at all.
"This is the best time to get a tree," said Ali Saleh, a Christmas tree shopper. "When it's a little bit drizzles, hazy, and smells really good — it feels like Christmas."
"I love the rain, it kind of helps with the season," said Sarah Green, a Christmas tree shopper. "It doesn't deter us at all."
The rain also left conditions at the farm a little muddy, but Holloway says that won't last for long.
"The good news for us, though, is in the rain at the farm here in Nipomo, we're on 60 feet of sand dune," he said. "We got 2 and a half inches in the last 48 hours, and we have a few puddles, nothing major at all. And by tomorrow there won't be any puddles left, it's just the sand, it soaks it up."
This weekend Holloway expects to sell about 2,000 over the three days, and welcome between 10,000 and 12,000 people.
