Many Route 66 travelers may not know Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St. Louis runs a side business that has nothing to do with dessert.
For about a month during the holiday season, it sells Christmas trees and other greenery harvested from Nova Scotia.
Here’s more about it in a recent report from KTVI-TV in St. Louis:
https://youtu.be/TKjd1HGeLnk
More from the Ted Drewes website:
Our finest trees are given the label of a “Dottie Tree” after Ted Jr.’s Wife.
We carry Balsam Firs, Fraser Firs, Scotch Pines and White Pines. . We have pine roping and handmade wreaths with handmade bows. We also keep the hot chocolate close by for you and your family!
We cut the trunks fresh and have tree food available to keep your tree fresh and hydrated all season long. Our staff will help you select your tree and we’ll carry it to your vehicle and help you secure it for the ride home.
Each year, we reseed our Nova Scotian tree lot to provide generations of sustainable holiday trees for our fans.
Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, which started in its business in 1929, isn’t a Johnny-come-lately in the Christmas-tree sector, either. According to Inside St. Louis, it’s been at it since the 1950s, which means multiple generations of St. Louisans have been buying Christmas trees from the family.
Ted Drewes Sr. began the sideline business as a way to provide income after his stands closed for the winter. However, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard now is so popular, it closes only for about a few weeks, starting in mid-January. The frozen-custard stand remains open for most hours its Christmas-tree operation is open — and many shoppers avail themselves from both.
Ted Drewes Frozen Custard’s Route 66 roots date to 1941, when it opened its stand on Chippewa Street (aka Route 66).
Ted Drewes Frozen Custard often makes the upper reaches of lists for the best ice cream in America. People have been known to drive hundreds of miles to eat there. It’s as ingrained into St. Louis culture as Cardinals baseball, toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake.
(Image of Christmas trees at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St. Louis by ann-dabney via Flickr)