SIDNEY, Mich. – On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Jessica and Rex Korson, their family and friends, watched as two Clydesdales pulled a carriage holding a tree from their farm, Korson’s Tree Farms, up the North Drive to the White House. After the First Lady examined the tree, they all went inside for a conversation.

In July, judges selected a tree from the Korson’s farm as the 2025 National Christmas Tree Association Grand Champion. This earned them the opportunity to present one of their trees as the Official White House Christmas tree.

“The White House sent the Secretary of Grounds, Dale Haney, to our farm in late September to look around and see if any of the trees we had met the specifications of what White House requires for the Blue Room Christmas tree,” Jessica Korson said. “It has to be at least 19.5 feet tall.”

The tree goes in the center of the Blue Room, said Rick Dungey, executive Director of the National Christmas Tree Association. They don’t want any electrical wires going across the floor to power the lights.

“So they take the chandelier down in the center of the room, and they use the electricity that normally powers the chandelier to power the lights,” Dungey explained. “They don’t like the cords hanging down from the ceiling to be visible, so they want the tree to go right up to the top of the ceiling to hide the cords that are powering the lights.”

In September, Haney selected a 22-year-old concolor fir. The Korsons used sizing poles to measure the height.

“We put a big bow on it,” Korson said. “Then the week before Thanksgiving, that Tuesday, we cut the tree down, baled it up, and the tree went into an enclosed trailer and was delivered to Washington, D.C.”

On Friday, the tree had to go through security measures and was then placed on the carriage that would deliver it to the White House.

“The Monday before Thanksgiving, our family and some of our friends got to go to the White House,” Korson said. “We went on a private tour of the White House first, and then we got to watch two horses pulling the carriage with the tree as it came up the North Drive of the White House. (Melania) Trump came out and made sure it was what she wanted and took pictures with it. Then we got to go inside the White House and meet the First Lady and have a conversation with her and get some pictures with her.

“She was wonderful,” Korson said. “She was so nice, and she is gorgeous. She was very cordial. We talked about our farm. She talked to our oldest son, Jack, who is going to be a third-generation farmer, she asked him about his college, because he just graduated with his MBA, and what his plans were. It was very short but it was very nice.”

President Trump invited the family back to the White House to see the tree decorated and in place. They plan to go in mid-December.

“It was amazing to be able to bring a Michigan tree to the White House,” Korson said. “That hasn’t happened in 41 years. We were very honored to have that experience and that privilege.”

Dungey said he was pleased and wants people to know that the White House uses a farm-fresh Christmas tree to decorate.

“I think it is cool that we support American farmers by using a real Christmas tree in the White House,” he said. “It is a 60-year-old tradition of picking the tree from the farm of a National Grand Champion to display in the Blue Room. I think it is a great tradition and it highlights how wonderful real Christmas trees are that are grown by American farmers.”

It is difficult to win the Champion Tree contest, Dungey said. Growing a really good Christmas tree is a skill. It takes a lot of hard work and years of experience.

“When somebody finally wins the National Contest, the prize needs to be good,” he said. “I can’t think of a better one than decorating the White House with the tree.”