Dave Jewett
Dave Jewett has something in common with Santa Claus.
"I pretty much work year round to get ready for Christmas," Jewett said. "Then it all happens at once."
The 42-year-old STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® athlete from Pittsford, N.Y., has built up quite a business over the past 20 years. And, naturally, December is the busiest time of year for Dave's Christmas Tree Stand at the Pittsford Farm Dairy. In addition to 500 Christmas trees, Jewett sells hand-made wreaths and various chainsaw carvings in the form of furniture, sculptures and ornaments. (Take a look at www.davidjewett.com.)
"Business has been awesome," said Jewett, who had only a couple dozen trees remaining 10 days before Christmas. "It has been a great year."
Jewett grew up in this affluent Rochester suburb. He's become a well-known member of the community.
"More and more people see STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS®," Jewett said. "I bet 90 percent of my customers have seen me on TV. I talk to everybody. I know their names and what they bought last year.
"My business has grown mainly because I make quality products. People notice that extra effort."
In addition to the tractor-trailer load of Christmas trees Jewett sells every season, Jewett gathers 2,000 pounds of Fraser fir branches that he turns into Christmas wreaths with a mixture of holly, juniper and boxwood.
"You can't get a fresh wreath just anywhere," Jewett said. "I pretty much flat-out make wreaths for five weeks straight."
Jewett began his association with the Pittsford Farms Dairy in 1995, and that has also been a boost.
"It's an old-fashioned dairy that still sells milk in returnable glass bottles," Jewett said. "They are famous for their eggnog. We've got something here that's like an open air market in Germany."
Dave's Christmas Tree Stand is open from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. during the holiday season. Jewett gets some valuable help from his father, Bill, a 70-year-old retired Kodak engineer. The Jewetts share something more than a father-son relationship. In 2006 Dave was stricken with a kidney disease that left him on dialysis and in need of a kidney transplant. When it was determined their blood types matched, Bill made the decision to donate a kidney to his son.
Five years later, both are going strong.
"It didn't phase him one bit," Dave said of his father. "He's a rock. I'd feel horrible if his quality of life had been reduced. But he keeps himself so fit. He's quite an inspiration."
Jewett's performances in the STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® Series have returned to top flight, even though powered now by one 70-year-old kidney. Jewett finished ninth in the U.S. Championships last September in Salem, Ore. He would have been much higher if not for a disqualification in the hot saw and an eighth-place finish in the springboard, which had been two of his best events all season.
"I had a great year," Jewett said. "I just had two bad events in Oregon. I didn't lose a springboard competition the rest of the season. In the last show of the year, in Cambridge, Ohio, all the best springboarders were there, and I won by 10 seconds. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I wanted to end the year with an exclamation point."
Jewett had no interest in lumberjack sports until he attended Finger Lakes (N.Y.) Community College. And even then, he says his dad was more interested in the sport than he was. But Jewett eventually joined the team there and quickly progressed into a world-class competitor.
When the holiday season is over, Jewett will turn his attention to the STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® Series. But most of his time will be spent honing his skills as the color commentator for the STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® Collegiate Series.
"That's when I do my homework," Jewett said. "I do a lot of that preparation in the winter."
He stays in shape by playing "a ton" of indoor soccer and chopping firewood. Jewett hand splits between 80 and 90 face cords of wood. A "face cord" is one layer of firewood four feet high and eight feet long.
Jewett has a STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® connection in his Christmas business as well. Fellow competitor Mike Sullivan of Colebrook, Conn., also enjoys making chainsaw furniture and sculptures.
"Basically, Mike and I trade ideas back and forth," Jewett said. "Mike does a lot of it, too. My business has gotten so big because we've learned what people like."
An example of those discussions is placed at the entrance of Dave's Christmas Tree Stand this year. It's a beer-keg size catalpa wood carving of a jack-o-lantern. This was one of Sullivan's ideas. While it might seem more like a Halloween decoration than a Christmas ornament, Jewett has learned these pumpkin-like wood carvings leave an impression.
"Those get so much response," Jewett said. "People have never seen anything like it. I make about nine different sizes. That big one makes my stand memorable. It's worth my time to make it and have it out there. Little kids remember that pumpkin."