Vermillion man carries on tradition of family Christmas tree business

To students, Mitchel Morse is the man who unlocks the Muenster University Center every day in the early hours of the morning, the man who arranges and aligns furniture to accommodate campus speakers and events and the man who ensures the MUC is neat and tidy.

But to the community of Vermillion, Morse is known as the man who delivers Christmas trees, having distributed freshly cut trees to local residents during the holiday season for more than 30 years.

“It’s just been a big family affair for years,” Morse said. “Christmas is my favorite because it’s getting together with family and just the presence (of holiday spirit).”

Located on the southern edge of town just off Dakota Street in lower Vermillion, Morse’s Market is decked out with about 75 Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir and White Pine trees waiting to be sold and delivered.

His products were trucked in from a tree farm in Wisconsin earlier this month and are available for purchase through Christmas Day.

Although the tree delivering business still keeps him busy, Morse remembers when he used to order more than 1,000 trees in the 1970s to meet the demands of area residents.

“We used to get Christmas trees in by the semi load,” he said. “As artificial trees came in, now we’re down.”

The business of delivering Christmas cheer to residents of Vermillion is an operation that dates back to three generations of Morse family history, when Morse’s grandfather opened a small market in the 1940s. The market, which would have been located where Vermillion Federal Credit Union presently resides, also sold produce and flowers in the spring, summer and fall months.

Though the market is no longer set up in town, the tradition of selling local produce throughout the year is something Morse still practices today.

“My favorite season, though, is pumpkin season, because when you go out to pick the pumpkins, I’m like a kid in a candy store,” Morse said. “I have to go out and find the biggest one.”

Seeing the elation of the children when picking the perfect pumpkin or Christmas tree with their families is one of the reasons Morse loves his job so much.

“Saturday, we had a lot of families come down here and they had their children,” Morse said. “Seeing the kids run around and picking them out (is one of the best parts of this job).”

Despite a seemingly declining demand for real Christmas trees, some residents have been relying on Morse’s tree delivery service for a number of years.

Don and Jeanne Dahlin have called Vermillion home since 1966 and have purchased a tree from Morse nearly every year since then. The couple made their annual visit to Morse’s Market on Monday to select a tree — a process that took them less than five minutes.

“We just kept coming down here to get a tree,” Jeanne Dahlin said. “We don’t have a truck so it’s very important that he brings it to our house and sets it up. It’s absolutely important.”

After all was said and done, the Dahlins expect their tree to be delivered today, a service Don Dahlin said is hard to come by nowadays.

“He gives a wonderful service,” he said. “He has nice trees, and we just borrow the stand. You just can’t beat the service.”

Having graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1976 and now employed there as a facility worker at the MUC for six years, Morse’s connection to the institution runs deep — and so does his passion for sharing the Christmas spirit with the university.

“Almost every business in town (during the peak of sales) had a tree in their display window, all the fraternities and sororities had trees and the dormitories had Christmas trees in there,” Morse recalled.

While his USD-related tree delivery list may not be as long as it used to be, Morse has been delivering trees to USD’s First Family for nearly 20 years.

This year, USD President James Abbott and First Lady Colette Abbott didn’t even pick out the two trees that would adorn their home on Main Street, trusting Morse’s judgement.

“They’re always beautiful,” James Abbott said. “He picks them out and we say OK.”

The Abbotts’ trees were delivered Sunday afternoon, and James and Colette Abbott decorated them Monday night.

“If I’m doing the tree, it takes 10 minutes,” James Abbott said. “If she’s doing the tree, it takes a couple of hours.”

Set on continuing the legacy of Morse’s Market his father and grandfather started before him, Morse said aside from his passion for farming, it’s the people that motivate him to keep doing what he does.

“You’re not going to get rich in this business, but it’s fun and entertaining,” he said. “I like being around people. Like I said, 99 percent of the time, people are great to work with.”

(Photo: Mitchel Morse makes wreaths out of White Pine trees Dec. 5 at his farm. Morse has been distributing Christmas trees in the Vermillion area for more than 30 years. Josie Flatgard / The Volante)