CAPTAIN JACK'S WEB SITE

REALLY FIGHTING THE "FAKE" TREE

And he's offering you a free internet listing too!

by Chuck Wright, Editor of Christmas Tree Magazine

We visited Captain Jack (alias Bill Dennis) and his wife, Cicily, Friday evening, February 7th and were literally amazed at his work on the Internet. He is really into it with Christmas trees! They grow thousands of Christmas trees just north of Des Moines, Iowa and deal in Christmas tree ornaments of all kinds which they gather at various trade shows.

He demonstrated the usefulness of the Internet to the Christmas tree industry and we could not have been more excited. For example, his pages on the Internet include such things as Christmas songs, Christmas stories, lots of things about reindeer, lots of animation, and different Christmas tree species with color photos of the trees.

If an Internet user wants to find out about Christmas and Christmas trees, when the Internet user calls up Christmas, they are sure to get a good reading of everything Captain Jack has put on the Internet.

He compared what he has about Christmas on the Internet with what the NCTA has on their page. Theirs was only about why you should be a member, nothing about the industry, plus there was only a small bit of animation-an envelope at the bottom which opened and shut.

He could even tell Internet users how many hours, days and months, there are until next Christmas. For example, at 9 p.m. February 7th there were 7,683 hours, 321 days, and 10 months until December 25, 1997.

We certainly can attest to the effectiveness of the Internet because from what he has put on the Internet about this magazine, we have obtained subscribers from Scotland, Labrador and Puerto Rico, just to name a few.

On page 28 in the October issue there was an ad offering a Christmas Special for Captain Jack's Internet Web Service and we have been informed by Captain Jack that an outstanding number of accesses have been made on his web site.

Listen to these numbers which are sure to boggle your mind: from December 1 to December 31st a total of 435,357 files were transmitted which is 14,044 files per day. Since June 1, 1996 to December 31st the total number of visitors to his web site was 122,000, of which there were over 2,000 per day in December.

The total number of files transferred by client domain from Captain Jack's Christmas Tree Internet [tobeadded later]

Some of the comments he has received are very interesting and here are a few of them:

From England - I found your site many times while searching the web for Christmas tree farms. I am in the Navy serving in England and am looking for a Christmas tree farm within a few hours of London, but have been unable to do so. Since you seem to have the best Christmas tree farm web page in the free world, I wondered if you might know of any farms over here? Unfortunately, the Navy isn't likely to send me to Iowa anytime soon, otherwise I would stop for a visit, your place sounds like fun. Merry Christmas.

From Pennsylvania - A great site! It really gives me the Christmas spirit. I hope you don't mind that I sent it to ALL my friends. I think they'll like it.

From Mexico - Need information on natural Christmas tree wholesalers. Please contact, we need approximately 25,000 trees.

From Brazil - I'm typing from Rio de Janeiro and would like to know the correct traditional dates we must assemble and disassemble the Christmas tree. Here in Brazil we disassemble the Christmas tree January 7 (one day after the day which celebrates the three kings who visited Jesus), but we don't know the date which we must assemble and why.

From Canada - Do you ship to Canada?

From Missouri - I just bough a White pine Christmas tree and I'm wanting to know if there are any treatments I can put in the water bowl to make the tree last longer. I thought a larger grower like you would know.

From California - I am a Scoutmaster and the person for a District Christmas tree lot. We've been selling Christmas trees of about 20 years, but I'm interested in finding the names of companies that I can purchase items such as Christmas tree stands, or other products that would help us raise money for our troops here in town.

From Florida - I'm looking for some information for a fund raiser for a high school, looking to purchase trees and wreaths to sell during the Christmas holiday. We have been unable to locate any information in Jacksonville. I am very impressed with your web page.

And from others - My mother recently asked me if I knew the history about why we have Christmas trees? Now that I think about it - I don't know - you are obviously the expert on this matter. What is the history behind the Christmas tree?

Very nice! One of the prettiest I've seen! Pretty site! You should get an award.

I am planning my wedding for next July. I would like to purchase seedlings, about 200 of them to give to my guests as reminders of the day. Do you sell seedlings? My wedding will be in Northern Wisconsin.

I love your Christmas MIDI page, it is great! Can you help me locate a piece of Christmas music by Red Skelton entitled "The Littlest Christmas Tree". A friend whom I work with would very much like to purchase this for her daughter for Christmas. Your help in finding this is greatly appreciated.

I have a whole house water purification system., so the water must taste pretty bland to the tree. Is there anything I should put in the water to make it a little more tasty? Someone told me that putting aspirin in the water can help preserve the tree a little long.

With messages like these coming in to Captain Jack on the Internet, it's a cinch he and his web site are doing an outstanding job in promoting the natural Christmas tree.

Captain Jack told us, "if anyone wants a free listing this year, send me the basic information and I'll put it on the Internet FREE. I do charge for full page Internet pages, but you may list your tree farm name, trees for sale, address, a map on how to get to your farm, prices and telephone number FREE."

He adds, "I'm wanting all Christmas tree farms to get a free Internet listing. No gimmicks, no charges, just send me the information and I'll put it on the Internet. Together we can defeat the "fake" tree!

You can send this information to Captain Jack, 2866 NW 82nd Ave., Ankeny, IA 50021, and his phone number is 515-964-8500.

With an offer this good he may be swamped with free material, but we salute him for his efforts and hope he continues to be successful. There is no question that natural Christmas trees are on the Internet and Captain Jack is certainly leading the way for our industry!