Alleghany Family To Present White House Tree To First Lady White House Usher Gary Walters (left) traveled to the Smokey Holler Tree Farm in Laurel Springs, NC, Oct. 20, to choose the Christmas trees to be displayed in the White House. He is shown with Meg, Betsy, Buddy and Earl Deal of Smokey Holler Tree Farm in front of the 18 1/2-foot Fraser fir chosen for the White House Blue Room. Earl and Betsy Deal will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary Saturday, Nov. 26, amid the hustle and bustle of traveling to our nation’s capital to meet the First Lady. The Deals earned this privilege when one of their trees won the National Tree Contest and the Deal’s were named the Grand Champions by the National Christmas Tree Association at its Convention in Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania. By coincidence, the Deals are the 40th Grand National winner to place trees in the White House. The winner is afforded the honor of providing the official White House tree, an 18 ½-foot Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room, as well as holiday trees for the Oval Office and private residence. It will include an opportunity to officially present the trees to Laura Bush on Monday, Nov. 28. The trees were chosen by White House Usher Gary Walters during a visit to their Smokey Holler Tree Farm in Laurel Springs on Oct. 20. The trees will be cut Friday, Nov. 25, and be transported to Washington, D.C., in a refrigerated truck provided by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. They will receive a sendoff during ceremonies at the Alleghany County Courthouse in nearby Sparta, North Carolina, at 1 p.m. Friday. The ceremony includes comments by United States Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) and North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler. The Deals also donated the community tree that will be displayed on the Courthouse lawn. The lighting of that tree will take place Saturday, Nov. 26, at 5:30 p.m. It follows the annual Christmas Parade through Sparta at 2 p.m. The last time an Alleghany County Christmas tree was selected for display in the White House was 1973 when growers Homer and Bruner Sides were so honored. Although it one of the smallest counties in North Carolina, Alleghany has become a major grower of Christmas trees in the state. Trees from the county are sold at retail outlets throughout the eastern United States. And many growers open their fields for families to choose and cut their own tree from mid-November through Christmas. The Deal’s 40th anniversary will be a stark contrast to — but almost as hurried as — the 1965 wedding between Earl Deal, an NC State forestry student, and Betsy Denson, a first-year teacher of a Raleigh, North Carolina, class of fifth graders. “The principal called me to a faculty meeting and I went storming into the meeting,” Betsy Deal said, recalling the day when she was trying to squeeze wedding plans into her teaching schedule. “It was a surprise shower.” They traveled to Rutherfordton, her girlhood home in the North Carolina mountains for the wedding. Honeymooned a day in Asheville. Stopped by Blowing Rock to visit Earl’s grandmother. And were back in Raleigh by Monday morning for her teaching and his classes. A circuitous route would bring them national recognition for their work on the Laurel Springs farm in Alleghany County and Earl’s grandmother’s farm played a part. It was there that Earl and his college roommate, a cousin, experimented with a relatively new crop for the North Carolina mountains and planted Christmas trees at the Blowing Rock farm. Earl and Betsy moved to Athens, Georgia, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Economics and spent two years in a job in Alabama before returning to North Carolina and an Extension Service job at North Carolina State University. On a foggy day in 1972, Earl inspected a Laurel Springs Christmas tree farm that was for sale. They bought the farm that showed less promise in the light of a clear day. “Earl came back the next weekend and realized he had bought a lot of work,” she recalled. Hence the name, Smokey Holler Tree Farm. Betsy taught in the Raleigh school system. Earl moved up the ladder with Extension, earning his doctorate in economics in 1986. They raised a family and managed the Laurel Springs farm with trips to the mountains on weekends and during summer vacations. In 1991, their son Buddy moved to Laurel Springs. Earl retired in 2000 and they moved to the farm. Most tree growers are small businesses and for the Deals that has built a special relationship with their children. “It builds family unity,” Earl said. “It has allowed me to work with Buddy and Meg.” Meg, a Raleigh CPA, handles the books and helps during harvest. Buddy is a full partner in the farm and helps with its daily management. Both will accompany their parents on the White House visit. Earl feels there is a special side to his business. “A real Christmas tree is more than just a commodity. For most families it is the focus of holiday decorating. Their ornaments — their memories — decorate that tree. We have ornaments that are 40 years old and we pull them out every year because they are meaningful to us and to our children.” For more information about the Nov. 25 sendoff for the White House trees or for information about where in Alleghany County and Sparta, North Carolina, to choose and cut your family’s tree, visit www.BlueRidgeHospitality.com or call the Alleghany Chamber of Commerce at 800-372-5473.