If you purchased a live Christmas tree from the Young Fellows Club of Weyburn's Tree Lot in 2023 and you now want to dispose of it, you just need to ensure that you have it on your curb by 9:00 a.m. this Sunday morning. 

"This is actually a really fun time of the year for us in the group. We all get together, we hop in our trucks and trailers and we travel around and pick up everybody's trees," shared Tree Lot 2023 Chair, Lee Tochor. 

"We just ask that please have them visible to us, so that we don't miss you. We get a lot of phone calls after the fact, that we missed them," he noted. 

Tochor said they use the City of Weyburn's garbage and recycling route map to ensure they get to every street. 

"So we go on there and we designate areas for each other, and then we're just responsible to make sure that we cover each street that's in that area. So as long as you're getting garbage pickup or recycling pickup and Weyburn, you will get your trees picked up."

For those who may be unable to get their trees to the curb this Sunday morning, Tochor recommends waiting until after Sunday to reach out to the club to make other arrangements, rather than contacting them in advance. 

"If there's some reason that beforehand it can't be picked up, maybe ask your neighbours, see if you can drop it off in front of their yard, or just leave it out front if you know already. Just please set it up, but if after the fact, you did miss the date, then get in contact with us."

Tree sales this year, Tochor said, were about 30 percent lower than other years.

"This year was a bit of a struggle, to be honest. With higher interest rates, individuals didn't have as much disposable income as they might have had in the past few years. So one of the first things that individuals cut back on is Christmas trees, and we've definitely seen it this year."

Out of the 440 trees the Young Fellows ordered, only 320 trees were sold, leaving 120 trees to go into the mulch pile. 

Tochor said this will likely result in them having to do something different for the 2024 Tree Lot. 

"We will be looking at possibly different wholesalers in the offseason, seeing if we can get some better prices, maybe then lining up with some different community organizations in other communities in the surrounding area and see if we can get some better prices," he explained.

He said they will also be ordering fewer trees next time to try to get the supply and demand back within balance. 

"If you're a regular tree buyer or you just want to buy one [this] year, please plan to buy your Christmas tree early because we can't guarantee that we won't be sold out." 

Find the Young Fellows Club of Weyburn website HERE.