Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston residents’ community involvement, diversity and unique life perspectives.

Ron and Cheryl Rossi are the owners of Rossi’s Tree Farm, located at 1936 Phenix Ave., where they spend the late-fall and early winter welcoming people to their land to pick out Christmas trees. Both retired, Ron worked in the construction industry while Cheryl worked as a teacher’s assistant in Cranston.

Cheryl: “We built this property, our home, in 1981 and we started planting trees then; approximately nine, ten years later we actually opened the tree farm for selling. Ronnie’s pretty much lived here all his life on the farm next door; it was a working farm with cows and sheep and chickens and pigs. We wanted to do a little something, so we thought ‘let’s do a Christmas tree farm.’ So here we are 41 years later selling trees. We really enjoy it. It’s over quickly and it’s four or five weekends depending on the calendar, and you get to meet really nice people that are happy and looking forward to putting up their tree.

Ron: You don’t realize, but it’s pretty stressful.

Cheryl: Last weekend, I waited on a couple hundred people. It gets a little chaotic here with the cutters riding around in the trucks and the pick-ups and people waiting to get their tree. I love it, but I don’t have to be outside in the fields and stuff either. I enjoy being in the shop and greeting people year to year – seeing kids grow up and off to college and grandkids.

Ron: We had a lot of people this last weekend – maybe over 150. We just don’t know [how many will come on a given day]. Last year was the first year after [Covid] that people were just busy and happy to get out and walk around. Some people will walk around for hours looking for a tree; they found their tree, but they’ll still walk around for hours if it’s a nice day. We have fields here and many fields down back and, when they find a tree, somebody cuts it down.

Cheryl: It’s a really heartwarming place to live and raise kids – we raised two children – and then all the family members come over. We have every holiday here because that’s what they love to do. Thanksgiving they were all out (it was beautiful) throwing their football around. So, we’re blessed in that way. That’s what we’ll keep doing. That’s what his [Ron’s] mother used to do. His mother lived two doors up, so we grew with my in-laws around. It is a treasure to us in some sense. I mean, I’ve had my niece’s wedding here, my sister’s wedding here and my nephew’s wedding here.

Ron: And we’ve had a lot of fundraisers here. The last had 200 people on a fundraiser barbecue for an antique truck club. My son, I’m sure he’ll do more here. He wants to grow this business to do more – more Christmas shop, maybe be open for more hayrides, maybe be open for Halloween. It’s different stuff. So the farm will always be here.

Ron: We only sell for the month of end of November to Christmas, but we do work on the trees. We start in April all the way through now working on the trees. We replanted over a couple of thousand trees this year. This year, we planted 3,000 and probably lost 2,000 with the drought. This [the farm] was something I was born into and done and liked doing but, like I said, I’m lucky enough to make a good living and do what I have to subsidize this farm and basically, I’ll spend more money than I make on Christmas trees. I’ll maybe break even…not counting the labor what I do all summer shearing 10,000 trees and doing all this work. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

This project has been made possible by a Rhode Island Foundation Community Grant, and the efforts of the OneCranston Health Equity Zone of Comprehensive Community Action, Inc. in partnership with the Cranston Herald and Timothy McFate. Want to nominate a Cranston resident to be featured? Email JB at jfulbright@comcap.org.