Our History
Medina Christmas Tree Farm was first begun in 1980 by the Reichheld brothers, Charles and Fred. Today, the Reichheld family has two locations within a mile of each other.
The main farm is located at 3301 Hamilton Rd and rests on the original Deis farm, a farm originally settled back in the early eighteen hundreds. Neighboring it at 3235 Hamilton Rd. is the Blakesley Farm, now known as the Butler Farm, first settled in 1837, making up Medina Christmas Tree Farm #2. The two farms are what remains of two of the earliest pioneer farms to be started in Northeast Ohio.
Fred, living in Boston with his family, went on to be an executive with the highly successful consulting firm Bain & Co. as well as becoming the author of three best selling books focused on Loyalty and his unique Net Promoter System for business.
Charles remained as the owner-operator of Medina Christmas Tree Farms, adding a second farm to the original farm while completing an academic career as a Professor of Economics at Cuyahoga Community College. Today, a Professor Emeritus, ‘Doc’ as he prefers to be called, can be found out shearing and planting trees on the farm. That’s when he is not traveling the world with his wife Debbie who keeps her Spanish sharp teaching at Tri-C as well.
Both of the Medina Christmas Tree Farms are choose and cut farms where customers can select their trees right from the field. Of course there is always a worker nearby to help with cutting, carrying loading etc if you want. Located near the intersection of I-71 and Rt. 3, the farms are all within easy access of Medina, Akron, Cleveland and their surrounding suburbs. The main site is an 11 acre farm with a wide variety of trees ranging from scotch, white and Austrian pine to Norway and Colorado blue spruce to Canaan Firs. A large selection of pre-cut trees featuring fraser firs from the mountains of N. Carolina are cut and shipped in overnight to assure their freshness and made available the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas day.
The farm became a school for all four of the Reichheld kids where each learned the values of their parents including hard work and honesty. Having fun as you worked became the basis of the farm’s major theme today where many of Doc’s and Deb’s past students and neighbors work hard at helping customers create a wonderful memory of Christmas. From agriculture to business, Lindsey, Ashley, Whitney and Chase all learned how to manage their resources, time and people. Though none works on the farm today, they all have turned their experience on the farm into successful careers in business and education.
With its backdrop of 50 year-old pines and an acre lake teaming with fish, the farm provides guests with a wonderful chance to experience nature while they wander among the thousands of plantings to find that special tree for Christmas. Enjoy the aroma of campfires kept burning to warm up frosty fingers and noses while the snowflakes drift down around you. Tree carts are available to help haul trees, but one advantage of a smaller farms is that you don’t have to go very far to find the tree you want.
Our trees are carefully groomed and sheared, which means that sooner or later practically every tree will be beautifully shaped, just right for your Christmas decorations. Though no longer a working farm, lots of interesting animals still populate the barnyard making it a special experience for the kids. Take time to feed the animals and perhaps enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.
We normally have plenty of free parking and full services are provided. On the weekends, lots of student workers are ready to help in any way they can, from cutting down trees (you can cut them if you want), to help with carrying, trimming the bottoms, shaking out old needles, bailing and even tying the tree on your vehicle (rope is provided free). Need a fresh wreath or pine roping? We have that too. You can purchase special one-step stands and have your trees drilled. We sell tree disposal bags, hand warmers and more. Everything is just waiting for you to help you build a Christmas memory that will last a life-time.
