DURAND, Mich. — During the Michigan Christmas Tree Association’s Summer Meeting, held July 28-30, 2021 at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Michigan, Laurie Koelling, Jerry Peterson, and Dan Wahmhoff were inducted into the Michigan Christmas Tree Association’s Growers Hall of Fame. Each of these growers were individually recognized for their lifetime of service to Michigan’s Christmas tree industry.
A Michigan native, born in Sandusky, MI, Laurie Koelling has been in the Christmas tree business most of her life. When she was five years old, Laurie’s parents bought a farm, planted trees, and did custom work related to Christmas trees, including planting and shearing of primarily Scotch pine. Her parents were active in the Michigan Christmas Tree Association where they entered and won many tree competitions. In 1974, they won the State contest and went on to win the National Christmas Tree Association contest with a Scotch pine. As a national winner, they had the honor of presenting a tree to President Gerald Ford at the White House in 1975.
Laurie learned a lot through her father, Ed Cole, as he was a “perfectionist” with respect to tree quality. When Laurie was little her dad gave her and her sister, Linda, two rows of trees each to manage from planting to harvest. The sisters had to care for the trees until they were ready for harvest roughly eight years later. When the trees were harvested and sold, they were able to keep the money they had earned. It taught them valuable lessons about hard work and responsibility related to reward.
After attending Saginaw Valley State University, Laurie worked for Sugarloaf Resort in Leelanau County as a sales representative and convention manager. Laurie went on to be the Director of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association, a position she held for many years. During her tenure as executive director, she played an integral role in the association’s success, as she brought years of knowledge and expertise to the position.
Since then, Laurie has moved on to have a successful career in real estate. Currently, she is an associate broker for Berkshire Hathaway Realtor Corporation. Laurie has served as a member of the Greater Lansing Board of Realtors, is the president and member of the Michigan Women’s Council of Realtors, is a member of the National Realtors Council RPAC, and she serves on other related state committees and organizations as well.
In addition, Laurie has also served as a three-term President of the Ingram County Farm Bureau and is a member of several State Farm Bureau committees and groups. She presently serves as Chairperson of the Alaiedon Township Planning/Zoning Committee and as a member of the Ingham county Farmland and Open Spaces committee.
Laurie and her husband, Mel, own and operate Tannenbaum Farms, a choose and cut tree farm in Mason Michigan.
Jerry Peterson joined the nursery and Christmas tree industry in 1975 when he accepted a job to work at Armintrout’s Nursery in Allegan, MI. Initially, his main job consisted of managing the digging of balled and burlap trees, but over time he became more involved in the company’s tree seedling nursery. In 1983, Jerry was offered a partnership position at Badger Evergreen Nursery to manage their tree seedling production. While at Badger, Jerry continued learning and perfecting the art of growing pine, spruce, and fir seedlings and transplants. During this period, Jerry and his wife Anne began their Christmas tree farm of which the first trees were sold in 1988. This retail and wholesale Christmas tree operation has grown tremendously and continues to this day. Jerry and Anne’s son Josh and his wife Erin, along their Riverview Nursery team have been instrumental as the business has grown.
In 1993, the time had come for Jerry to start his own tree nursery, and Peterson’s Riverview Nursery was established in Allegan. Over the past 28 years, Peterson’s Riverview Nursery has experienced constant growth and expansion under Jerry’s leadership. The nursery currently produces over 1 million plants annually which are shipped to a loyal customer base around the country primarily for Christmas tree plantings. Over the past 46 years, Jerry has grown millions of seedlings destined for the Christmas tree industry. He also has served on numerous nursery and tree association boards, including nine years on the board of directors of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association.
From childhood, Dan Wahmhoff was an important participant in his family’s Christmas tree business. The family business had begun as a combination onion farm and Christmas tree farm. Dan’s father, Carl Wahmhoff Jr., soon changed that. The onion business was “phased out” and he expanded the Christmas tree side of the business. Dan planned to continue on in the family business, so he went to Michigan State University and earned a degree in Forestry. It was at MSU that Dan met his future wife, Lorie. Together, Dan and Lorie went into farming Christmas trees full-time on the family farm.
Dan and his brother Ken purchased the farm from their father, Carl Wahmhoff Jr., in 1996 and continued to expand the business. This included harvesting and shipping out millions of bare-root seedlings and transplants throughout the United States, digging and shipping thousands of Balled and Burlapped (B&B) trees for nursery stock, and harvesting thousands of cut Christmas trees for both wholesale and retail. In addition to the farming activities, they expanded and improved the Answer Stand tree stand and the Answer Stand Display system and began the Professional Grower/Retailer Supply Wholesale Catalog business.
Dan and Lorie have four children and two grandchildren. Their children all spent many hours at work in the Christmas trees while growing up. Currently they come back during the busy Christmas season to help out and stay connected to the family business. Wahmhoff Farm’s Nursery has been blessed with an excellent team. Most of the staff have been part of the business for more than twenty years and have a wealth of knowledge and experience in the Christmas tree industry.
Dan has been an active member and is a past-president of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association. He has also been a member of the National Christmas Tree Association for many years. Dan, along with the team from Wahmhoff Farms Nursery, host a yearly tree giving event called Trees for Troops, which helps spread joy to military families during the holidays by providing them with real Christmas trees.
The Michigan Christmas Tree Association’s Growers Hall of Fame recognizes and honors Laurie Koelling, Jerry Peterson, and Dan Wahmhoff for their lifetime of service to Michigan’s Christmas tree industry.
— Michigan Christmas Tree Association
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