Time of the season | David Whitney's wreath-making business opens a facility in Indian Township
Around the time most of us are pulling down our Halloween decorations and planning Thanksgiving menus, David Whitney is thinking about Christmas — Christmas wreaths, to be precise. Then again, Whitney, founder of Machias-based Whitney Wreath, thinks about Christmas wreaths all year long, whether he's ordering wreath decorations and making bows in spring and summer, or taking pre-season orders in the fall.
But early November is when his company's wreath-making operation shifts into high gear, with crews in locations across Maine and eastern Canada manufacturing fresh Balsam wreaths, table-top trees and centerpieces, or adding decorations to wreaths manufactured by Canadian suppliers. This year, part of that operation has landed in Indian Township, where the company recently leased 20,000 sq. ft. of space from the Passamaquoddy Tribe.
Whitney wasn't expecting to move into a new location this year. Last season, part of Whitney Wreath's manufacturing took place in a vacant aquaculture facility in Eastport that the company expected to use again. But in August, Whitney learned that Cooke Aquaculture planned to restart aquaculture activity in the building, leaving no room for the wreath crew.
Now, though, he sees advantages in being forced farther into Washington County's interior. "It was almost serendipitous. Here was a building being offered to us that happened to be in the middle of 100,000 acres of woodland [the tribe] owns," says Whitney. "It puts us in the middle of the resource and helps us achieve our manufacturing objectives."
With its easy access to balsam boughs — or "tips," as they're known in the industry — and to Route One for shipping finished products, the Indian Township location is another step Whitney has taken to turn a traditional, seasonal activity in Washington County into a stable business. That process also includes Whitney's scientific approach to the wreath manufacturing process, which has helped him determine what he says is the best way to pack wreaths to preserve moisture (individually, in a plastic-lined box), and led him to develop a machine that automatically places decorations onto finished wreaths. "For me, the most important thing is creating efficiencies," Whitney says.
It's a long way from his inauspicious start in the wreath industry, when, as an eight-year-old boy, he went into the woods and collected needle-like spruce boughs, instead of fragrant balsam tips used by wreath makers. He eventually got the hang of tipping, as collecting branches is known, and by the time he was in college he'd started his own wreath-making business. It was still just a seasonal operation, though, and only after graduating college and spending a short time in Boston "working for the man" did Whitney realize he wanted to return to Washington County and try to make his living there.
The key for Whitney Wreath is to avoid being just a wholesale producer and instead add value — in the form of decorations, or special products like table-top trees and centerpieces — for the retail market. Whitney won't disclose total sales information, but says during the holiday season his company ships 18,000 wreaths a day.
To meet that demand, Whitney Wreath employed 800 people last year. This year, many of those workers will be from the Passamaquoddy Tribe. As part of its deal for space in Indian Township, Whitney Wreath hired a tribe member with decades of experience in the wreath business to manage the operation. The company also plans to fill as many open positions as possible by hiring tribal members — many of whom, like Whitney himself, have spent their whole lives as part of Washington County's wreath-making tradition. "A lot of tribal people tip," says Whitney.
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