Deck the Halls
Wreaths range in price from $25 to $50. Please call Heather Johnson at 252-588-0052 to get yours.
Three women stand ankle deep in twigs and needles and discarded bits of branches. They’re making Christmas wreaths out of fresh Ocracoke cedar, and after a few minutes of cutting, snipping, stuffing, shaping and crimping the first wreath is done and ready for its red velvet bow. That’s one down and thirty-five to go.
Those are just the first few days’ worth of orders. Every year is different, but they’ve made as many as 150 in a season. More orders are coming in, keeping Heather Johnson, Cindy Fiore, and Callie King hard at work.
Heather is creating a jumbo wreath – the biggest size they make.
“The jumbos eat up all the greenery,” she said. “So we do those first. Well, I do them. I’m the big wreath maker.”
Gaffer’s and East Carolina Bank ordered two jumbos each, and they are really huge. It takes two big buckets of cedar boughs to make just one.
You’ll see these fresh cedar wreaths of all sizes adorning homes, shops, and even the front ends of pickup trucks. They are an Ocracoke tradition that goes back more than twenty years, or as Cindy puts it, “since time began.”
Cindy credits former Ocracoke resident Shelly Wynn for getting the business started, but soon after, Cindy, Dee Keel and Hettie Johnson took it over. Although Hettie passed away in June 2007 after a five-year battle with cancer, the wreath-makers keep her memory alive. They use Hettie’s old greenhouse (now Home Grown Hettie’s), where she had her Sandfiddler Nursery business, and tell Hettie stories while they work.
Hettie’s daughter, Heather Johnson, approached Cindy a few years ago and asked if she could help make the wreaths.
They were, Cindy said, “happy passing the torch on to her.”
Now it’s Heather’s business, and Cindy helps out as needed. As for Callie, she’s brand new at this and putting in her first day.
“I’m here because I’m a good friend,” she laughed. “And I need the money.”
The machine parts for the three wreath-making machines came from a Christmas supply company in Maine, and Cindy’s partner Tim Fields built the wooden frames to hold them. Speaking of Tim, he’d already been by that morning to offer his services.
“Thank God for Tim,” said Cindy. “He fixed Heather’s machine this morning, and he brought us sandwiches.”
“Tim’s our food fairy,” said Heather. “We couldn’t do it without him. He’s crucial to the operation.”
Making a wreath involves gathering a bunch of cedar boughs, cutting them to the right length, placing them in metal wreath frame on the machine and stepping hard on the foot pedal to crimp the frame around the greenery. Then you turn the wreath frame and do it again, all away round the circle. It’s hard work, especially on the larger wreaths, but the laughter and camaraderie lets you know that the wreath-makers are having a good time while creating something beautiful. And the greenhouse smells like heaven itself, with all the cedar trimmings underfoot.
Callie stayed busy at her machine. “I’m still on smalls,” she said. “I haven’t graduated to mediums yet.”
Heather and Cindy praised Callie’s work when she declared it was time for judgment. She’s a natural!
“Not everyone likes it, and not everyone can do it,” Heather said. “It’s not as easy as you’d think.”
Cindy worked the bow-making machine, winding red velvet ribbon around the spokes. She gets to add the final festive touch to the wreaths, making them even more Christmas-y. This machine, they tell me, is another crucial element.
“We used to make bows by hand,” Cindy said. “Once, Hettie and I didn’t have a single bow made and we had a big order to take to Cedar Island. We sat on that ferry making bows for the whole ride and we said ‘that’s the last time!’ That’s when we got the bow-making machine.”
They start working on the wreaths each year just after Thanksgiving. First they have to cut all the cedar.
“We have different people on the island who let us cut in their yards,” Cindy said. “Some people let us come back year after year. Larry Simpson has one of the best spots on the island.”
Part of the business requires spending a day doing “telemarketing” – calling past customers and asking if they want to place an order. They get a lot of repeat business; East Carolina Bank is always one of the first places to display their wreaths.
The first two weeks of the season is really busy, then things slow down a bit. They can usually pack up the operation by December 15th or so.
“That’s when the elves are finished,” Heather said.
The wreath-makers welcome visitors to the greenhouse, and offer up a bit of holiday cheer to everyone who drops by. The “nip bar” shares the space with garden tools and WD-40, and is a little altar, too. A statue of Santa holding a wreath, and a photo of Hettie (she's laughing, of course) keep watch over the greenhouse and the dwindling supply of butterscotch schnapps. The wreath-makers were excited that it was almost time for the liquor store to open so they could re-stock. But even though supplies were low, they poured the last shot for their visitor.
“When people stop by, they have a little nip with us,” Cindy said. “Eden [Honeycutt] is still our bartender when she’s here. She’s going to bring us St. Brendon’s.” (The wreath-makers are especially found of Irish Cream.)
Heather also encourages visitors.
“Have a nip with us! And feel free to bring gifts,” she said. “We’re always hungry.”
