STATE-TISTICS: November/December 2019

It takes an average of seven years to grow a Christmas tree. Small businesses, firms employing fewer than 500 employees, employed 1.1 million people, or 47% of the private workforce, in 2013. Missouri loves its turkey. In fact, Missouri is one of six states that produce two-thirds of the birds raised in the United States. The other five are Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, and Indiana. The most recent data from the US Department of Agriculture showed there were 26,557 Christmas trees cut in 2017 from 115 Christmas Tree Farms in Missouri. The United States Small Business Administration estimates there are over 500,000 active small businesses in Missouri, like some of those in our gift guide. ’Tis the season, and Hallmark Cards, Inc., is one of the top five manufacturing employers in Missouri, along with Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Monsanto, and Alliant Techsystems. Kringles Christmas Shop at Grand Village Shops in Branson is the largest Christmas store in Missouri, and it’s open year-round. The National Christmas Tree Association showed Missouri ranked 16th in 2012 with total sales of $1,146,000. Missouri’s oldest active brewery, Anheuser Busch, hosts Brewery Lights every year where more than a million festive lights are displayed.   Photo by Dave Herholz, Flickr.