Rowan County man and son to deliver Christmas tree to White House
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009
By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
How often do you have the chance to make a special delivery to the White House?
For Mike Crosby of Rowan County, Saturday morning will make it three times.
Crosby, who normally hauls food for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, will be delivering a 20-foot Fraser fir Christmas tree to the Bushes at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
He made similar trips in 2005 and 2007. What makes the journey special this year is that his 10-year-old son, Jacob, will be sitting in the truck’s cab with him for a second year in a row.
It’s a pretty cool feeling when their tractor-trailer pulls onto the White House’s South Lawn, not far from where President Bush’s helicopter routinely lands.
“People I tell don’t believe me,” Mike Crosby says. They say, ‘You take the Christmas tree to the White House?'”
The tree, growing at the River Ridge Farm in Creston until it’s cut down Friday morning, will go into the Blue Room at the White House.
There’s a chance Crosby also will be hauling a couple of smaller trees. In the past, he has taken Fraser firs for the Bushes’ private living quarters, Camp David and the Oval Office, for example.
At the White House Saturday, crews with the National Park Service will unload the large tree from the back of the rig. They place it into a horse-drawn, wooden-wheeled wagon for a traditional delivery and presentation to First Lady Laura Bush.
In his past two deliveries, Crosby has delivered his trees and departed soon after for Rowan County. He only had clearance for the White House grounds outside. This year he hopes he has made the proper arrangements so he and Jacob can stay for a tour inside.
“Hopefully, I can at least get him in the front door,” Mike says.
Both Crosbys ó father and son ó know their trips with the Christmas trees from North Carolina are something they’ll remember for the rest of the lives.
“I think it’s very exciting to deliver the president’s tree,” says Jacob, a fifth-grader at Salisbury Academy. “Not many people get to do that.”Jacob had never been to Washington, D.C., before his trip in 2007. The best part of the trip?
“Getting to see the White House so close,” he says.
The Crosbys live in southern Rowan County. Jane Wise Crosby ó Mike’s wife and Jacob’s mom ó owns Queen’s gift store in Salisbury.
Some ceremonies and festivities take place in North Carolina before the White House Fraser fir leaves for Washington.
Friday morning, Mike and Jacob will be driving first to the tree farm in Ashe County for the tree-cutting and the Fraser fir’s loading into the back of the tractor-trailer. The rig’s trailer is decorated like a mobile billboard for N.C. Christmas trees.
It’s a big deal for the farm chosen to supply the tree, and a lunch on the farm probably will follow, as will a ceremony later in front of the Ashe County Courthouse in Jefferson. N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and officers with the N.C. Christmas Tree Association are usually on hand.
The Crosbys will drive off with the tree (or trees) in the early afternoon, and they plan to spend Friday night in Fredericksburg, Va. They’ll leave Saturday morning for about an hour’s drive to the White House.
Mike Crosby says the tree has to be trimmed down to 18.5 feet to fit in the Blue Room.
In 2005, Mike was able to take his father, Jimmy, on the trip to Washington with him.
This tree delivery thing tends to be a family affair.