Crab Pot Christmas Trees win ‘silver medal’

Crab Pot Christmas Trees are just about the “coolest thing made in North Carolina.” 

Manufactured in the community of Smyrna in Down East Carteret County, the holiday specialty product came in second place in the 2022 statewide online contest organized by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

 

Crab Pot Christmas Trees was the runner-up in the small business category. The winner was the beachBUB All-in-One Beach Umbrella System of Greensboro.

 

The champion in the mid-to-large business division was Caterpillar’s Cat 299D3 XE Compact Track Loader, made in Sanford. Second place went to HondaJet Elite S of Greensboro.

 

Don Acree, owner of Fisherman Creations, which produces and markets the Crab Pot Christmas Trees, said: “Emmy Boyette of the NC Chamber had my heart pounding as she revealed the outcome of the voting on Oct. 6.” 

“It was a wild ride for us,” Acree added, “as we made it all the way to the top two. While we would have loved to have come out on top, we are humbled and most appreciative of the responses from our loyal customers who supported us by voting. It was an honor to be among the 80 North Carolina products that were nominated.” 

The popular, annual competition is designed to spotlight North Carolina’s important manufacturing sector, which employs more than 10% of the state’s workforce, said NC Chamber President Gary Salamido. 

The NC Chamber boasts: “What’s made in North Carolina is what makes North Carolina.” 

Truly, the diversity of manufacturing operations across the state is incredibly impressive, ranging from massive machinery to an array of food and beverage products. 

This year’s field included highly technical industrial innovations as well as niche products that are hand-made by creative artisans. 

The Crab Pot Christmas Tree was invented by Neal “Nicky” Harvey of Davis (also a Down East community). A former commercial fisherman, Nicky formed Harvey & Sons Net and Twine in 1981 to produce the nets that shrimpers use on their trawler vessels. 

When shrimping slumped, Nicky branched out to build “traps for the thriving crab business,” wrote Cameron Walker, a contributor to Business North Carolina magazine. 

Trapping male blue crabs requires sturdy, but simple wire cubes. The contraptions are known as crab pots. One day after Nicky had finished making all the crab pot orders, an idea hit him, and the tinkering began. 

“We just cut up some scrap pieces of the green vinyl-coated wire into triangles,” Nicky commented, “and then we started putting lights on them.”

“The important thing,” he said, “is that we came up with a way to make ‘em fold flat” with the lights still attached, for easy storage.” 

Nicky Harvey obtained a U.S. patent in 2003, and a cottage industry was launched. Nicky sold the business in 2009 to Don Acree, an entrepreneur from Atlantic Beach. 

More than a million crab pot trees have been sold since 2003. Trees come in various sizes from 1.5 feet to 8 feet tall. They are available through national chain retail stores in every U.S. state as well as through online outlets. 

Locally, Crab Pot Christmas Trees can be purchased at stores in Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, Cedar Point, Emerald Isle, Harkers Island, Morehead City, Newport, Pine Knoll Shores, Swansboro and Williston.

 

Acree said the company uses American-made “hexagonal wire mesh,” that is both strong and pliable. Reviews from customers rate the trees as “beautiful, practical and ideal for indoor or outdoor use.” 

Part of the reason for the popularity of crab pot trees is their simplicity, Acree said. “No dropped needles, no watering, no stringing of lights and no struggling with a stand.” 

The NC Chamber contest will no doubt bring additional exposure to Fisherman Creations, and the Crab Pot Christmas Trees are expected to attract a lot of interest in a holiday season gift guide that will be published soon, highlighting all of the “cool” consumer products that were included on the contest ballot. 

Acree said that he spent many years “in the sales and marketing of a wide variety of products related to ‘all things beach’ (umbrellas, chairs, sand toys, body boards, towels and more). They were fine products. but there was one word I rarely heard about them, though – ‘love.’” 

“But in my years making and marketing Crab Pot Christmas Trees, I honestly can say that the one word that has been heard hundreds, if not thousands of times, from our customers is ‘love.’ People tell us all the time how much they love their Crab Pot Christmas Trees. As with our families, to love and to be loved is one of the greatest gifts anyone could hope for.” 

Eastern North Carolina was well-represented in the finals within small business category, as George’s BBQ Sauce of Nashville finished in third place and Artisan Leaf Tables and Bartops of Wilson was fifth. 

Advancing to the semi-finals was the Shibumi Shade, which was invented in 2016 in Emerald Isle.