The Sharon family won a free tree for being Skelton's Christmas Trees' 500th customer. Photo courtesy of Rod Skelton.

LAKEPORT – Skelton's Christmas Trees, celebrating 27 years of bringing fragrant, fresh-cut trees to the Lakeport area, would like to thank their many valued customers. To show their appreciation, they gave every 100th customer their chosen tree free.

"Several lucky persons thought we were joking when we told them that their tree was free," says Rod Skelton, owner. "I really enjoy doing this. Our plan was so well received and appreciated that we’re going to make it a yearly tradition."

"This year, because of the poor economy, our bargain area was very popular. We were able to get some very nice "economy" trees which we sold at greatly reduced prices .... a feature which no other local seller offers."

"We hope next year to again be at the parking lot of New hope Fellowship Church across from K-Mart Garden Center and behind Mackey Tire. Come see us," said Skelton. "Our trees are the freshest in town because we store and display them in water bowls. Most of our beautiful trees are Noble and Nordmann Fir from the prime Christmas tree growing region of Silverton, Oregon. Also, we now have a mechanical tree shaker which effectively shakes out the old needles lodged in the branches. We are the only seller in the Lakeport area that performs this free service."

The 500th customer winning a free tree was the Sharon family of Lakeport: Jon, Katie and baby Hayden, born Dec. 8, making this his first Christmas.

Other tree winners were Haley Ostern of Lakeport, Debbie Dittmar of Nice, Kreg Barnett of Kelseyville and Christopher Ray of Lucerne.