Another area tradition continues Monday when Boy Scout Troop 99 begins its annual sale of Christmas trees.

The Fraser firs are expected to arrive Sunday, according to Dal Newbold, Scoutmaster for Troop 99. That means Scouts and their adult leaders will be unloading the trees and arranging them on the sales lot as soon as the fresh-cut trees arrive at the usual spot at the intersection of Pierce and West 15^th streets and next to Inner Banks Dental.

Josh Ingram, assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 99, said the trees will be sold from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. No trees will be sold Thanksgiving Day. After Thanksgiving, the lot hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays.

“We will sell them until we run out,” Ingram said, adding the prices for the trees begin at $50 for a tree that’s about 4 feet tall and up to about $120 for a tree a little more than 10 feet tall.

Buying a Christmas tree from the Scouts is a tradition for some area residents. The Scouts, sponsored by Washington’s First United Methodist Church, do more than unload and sell the trees. They trim them, put stands on them and load them into or onto customers’ vehicles.

As of last year, the troop has a new Christmas tree supplier. Its former supplier, Harry Yates’ Christmas tree farm, retired after last year’s Christmas tree season,

Scouts work at the lot, doing various tasks such as trimming lower branches from the trees to improve the trees’ appearance. They use the money earned by working at the lot to pay for activity fees and summer camp.

The North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, which touts Fraser firs as the best evergreen to serve as Christmas trees, notes North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry ranks second in the nation in the number of Christmas trees harvested and in cash receipts for those trees. At least 1,500 growers produce an estimated 50 million Fraser firs on about 25,000 acres, according to the association. Fraser firs represent a little over 90 percent of all Christmas tree species grown in the state. Fraser firs are native to North Carolina.

The Fraser fir, according to area Christmas-tree sellers, is the preferred tree bought by area residents. Other tree species sold for use as Christmas trees include white pine, Virginia pine and Norway spruce, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.