Park Slope Nursery School Sells Trees, With A Side Of Zen

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — If you're looking to buy a tree in Park Slope this holiday season, chances are you walk past multiple sellers on a daily basis.

But while all tree vendors obviously sell various conifers, one tree shop run by a local co-operative nursery school offers something a bit less tangible: magic.

The long-running annual tree sale run by the Old First Nursery School, located inside the portico of the Old First Church on Seventh Avenue, offers an opportunity for Park Slopers to slow down, smell a tree and reconnect with community, according to a school parent long involved with the tradition.

Dustin Goodwin, an Old First Nursery School parent and IT consultant, has been selling trees for the school for over five years, and he calls the experience of selling trees a balm to feeling down about New York City.

"If you ever get cynical about living in New York City and your fellow New Yorkers, the antidote to that in my mind is to see them doing something that they're almost universally happy to do," Goodwin said. "I haven't met anyone yet buying a tree in a bad mood."

He said the experience of seeing New Yorkers stop and smell the Christmas trees makes him forget all the frustrations of living in the Big Apple.

"It's just a happy, joyous place," he said. "I can't tell you how many people come in, just to smell the trees and walk among the trees."

But the sale also has cemented itself as part of the fabric in the community, with the same people returning year after year to buy their trees alongside the majestic church.

"You get this experience of selling trees alongside former parents, former students, and people currently involved with the school," he told Patch, "it's just really something special to just see and experience."

Goodwin said his favorite part of selling trees is when he sees a "gaggle of surly teenagers" enter.

He watches them at first, goofing off, staring at their phones, seemingly annoyingly dragged by parents, eager to have the assistance of their limber progeny when it comes time to bring the selected tree home.

"As soon as they get in that alleyway with the trees, there's an age regression," Goodwin said, "teenagers become joy-filled kids again, as they start to experience, reverie about their younger years."

There's other buyers, too, who fill Goodwin with stupendous seasonal vibes. The young couple buying their first tree together, the parents with a kid home from college trying to hold on to that childhood magic and of course the young kids who need no assistance in transporting themselves to a magical winter wonderland.

"When it snows, forget about it," Goodwin said.

The tree sale is open every weekend from 9:30 a.m to 6:30 p.m. until Dec. 18. In addition to trees, the school also offers wreaths, garland and mistletoe. All proceeds go towards sustaining the nursery school.

Goodwin says he expects to sell at least 500 trees this season, and it always looking to recruit more sellers.

"Most people walk away with something unexpected from the experience," he said.

It's even turned into a bit of a mantra for him.

"I tell everybody: if you're ever feeling down and blue about New York City, come and sell Christmas trees."