By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    Walking into Lank Farm in Kennebunk, Christmas trees and wreaths adorn walls of the large barn. Brooks Fox, 26-months-old of Wells, peers around the wreath and kissing ball filled barn in search of the jolly man in red. As Brooks shuffles around a corner leading to a second room housing all sizes and shapes of handmade wreaths he makes eye contact with Santa.
    “Hello, little one,” Santa greets the child.
    At first look Brooks is unsure of what to make of him. But it doesn’t take long for Brooks to take the well-known seat on St. Nick’s lap to tell him what he wants for Christmas.
    The adventure to Lank Farm last weekend was just as special for Cathy Fox, Brooks’ mother, as they were taking their first wagon ride.
    Lank Farm Christmas Trees and Wreaths was started by Kennebunk resident and then farm owner Joann Lank in 1980.  The family owned farm, now in the hands of Cathy Lank and her husband Rob and mother-in-law Joann, has been around for 150 years.
    This year, the 200-acre farm offered wagon rides and when the snow falls, sleigh rides, with two draft horses, Molly and Beauty, owned by George Day of Arundel. Day’s wagon rides on the farm aren’t his first since he has been operating horse-drawn wagon and sleigh rides as a small side business to help cover the cost of caring for the horses.
    After Lank and her daughter took a ride with Day’s horses at Abenake Horse Club in Lyman, he said she called him and his fiancé Liz Solari, asking them to have the rides at the farms wreath and tree stand. The wagon rides, or sleigh rides if there is snow, are operating every weekend from Dec. 1 through Dec. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. are $5 a person. The ride takes passengers across the farm and along the cut-your-own Christmas tree area.
    The farm is home to mostly Balsam Fir trees and what Lank said was a limited supply of Blue Spruce and White Pine tress. The farm still has more than 80 acres of untouched Christmas trees sized three to 30 feet with a $5 a foot cost.
    “What we are really trying to do is sustain a family farm,” Cathy said. “We really couldn’t do it without our friends and neighbors of Emmons Road.”
    And George Day and Liz Solari aren’t the only friends who have donated time and energy into the farm’s weekend celebrations.
    Santa Claus, played by retired Kennebunk Elementary teacher, Ted Axelson, visited the farm for the first time this year and will be at the farm again Dec. 8 and 9. Lank said many neighbors worked tireless hour’s decorating handmade wreaths, kissing balls, table plaques and wall ornaments.
    The farm begins its Christmas events in October, Lank said, when she and other members of the Lank family go through files of businesses who have ordered or worked with the farm in the past. Lank said she calls the businesses and gives them an idea of what the farm is selling and for how much. The businesses then order what they want between October and December.
    “A lot of our customers and our business customers place their orders well in advance,” Lank said. “That way they can come and pick it up when they want it.”
    The farm has a three-day turnover rate, which means the wreaths and trees sold on the farm are extremely fresh, Lank said. In the worse case it might be a wreath that was made three days earlier.
    Everything the farm sells is handmade, and the trees are raised by the family and cut down to be used for wreaths and kissing balls by Lank’s husband, Rob. The ribbons and bows, which come in more than 20 varieties including silk material and the traditional maroon colored, are hand tied and the bells, ornaments and hand painted fixtures.
The farm also sells kissing balls made from Balsam Fir branches with white ribbons, bows and bells decorating the hanging fixture. Hanging balls are similar to mistletoe’s, Lank said, except the balls are larger, but people are still supposed to kiss underneath it. More than 500 wreaths covered the inside of the stand ranging from six inches, at $8, to 48 inches, at $80. The wreaths can be more than $100 if they have a lot of decorations or ribbons on them.
“We try to keep the prices affordable and the quality high,” Cathy said. “Not a lot of tree sellers can say they know exactly where that tree or wreath came from”
Among the wreaths sit table plaques, one of the newer products the farm is starting to sell. The plaques are mostly used for center pieces or mantle decorations, Lank said, and can be made to order larger eight feet in length. Many of the table plaques on display had round cutouts leaving a suitable amount of space for a candle in the middle. Cathy said as long as the farm knows how long or big the product has to be, and are given the right amount of time to complete it, they are willing to make just about anything.
Fox said she wasn’t planning on coming to the Lank Farm but decided to try it when she saw an ad featuring wagon rides.
“I just thought, ‘that would be great for the kids,’” she said.
Food and beverages are served for those visitors looking to get a break from the chilly air. After cutting their tree, with a Lank Farm supplied saw, visitors can shuffle around the wreath stand and enjoy conversation with Santa while warming up with hot chocolate, cider and donuts.
But the real magic isn’t in cutting a tree or buying a wreath, Day said.
“It’s a blast to see the kids when they see the wagon coming,” he said.
Lank said she hopes the wagon rides continue to generate interest throughout the season.
“We just want families to come and enjoy our farm,” she said. “Take a ride on the wagon or sleigh and then wander around our land until you find your Christmas tree.”

To contact Ashley St. Michel call 282-4337 ext 228 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.