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Owner Melissa Bautista and Engineer Marco Alcaino pose in front of engine 13. Photo by Estela Anahi Jaramillo

published on December 6, 2023 - 2:20 PM
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A story of blessings has led to one of the Central Valley’s most cherished gems. Hillcrest Christmas Tree Farm, located in Reedley, is the oldest tree farm in the San Joaquin Valley.

Business is seasonal as it gets. The busiest time of year, of course, is Q4 — serving thousands of students and families from across the Valley as a pumpkin patch and then Christmas attraction and the only place around where you can still cut down your own tree.

Hillcrest also hosts weddings and other private parties, and the terrain is a favorite for local photographers. The business also has a division that has a national reach.

Room for the train

The farm was founded in 1960 by Ed and Bonnie Toews and was purchased by current owners Sean and Melissa Bautista in 1992. The couple lived in Dinuba, and Sean was an Air National Guard fighter pilot.

The Bautistas owned land in Fresno’s Sierra Skypark and were ready to build a house there, but the land needed to fit with Sean’s vision that at the point was unknown to Melissa.

“My husband said he was having a hard time with the plans for the house. He goes, ‘I can’t fit the railroad in.’ We’d been married for a while, and I’m like, railroad? I had no idea. So in that time, before we started building at SkyPark, we moved here,” said Melissa Bautista.

They discovered the property by chance. Sean’s commute from Dinuba to the Air Guard base took him down Reed Avenue, past the tree farm. A “for sale” sign appeared one day, and they decided to look at the property. Melissa said her husband loved the creek that runs through.

The Bautistas decided to sell the lot in SkyPark and bought the Christmas tree farm. After two years and much renovation, the railroad and tree farm were up and running for families to visit.

“Fast forward 30 years — it’s a huge railroad,” Melissa said. “And we’ve expanded into building trains, railroads, and maintaining equipment for various people.”

Steam engine shop

Most people know about Hillcrest as a tourist attraction and amusement park, but it’s also a steam engine railroad shop with high-profile clients.

Hillcrest & Wahtoke Railroad Shops has customers across the country. Clients include municipalities, zoos and hobbyists. The business also does a lot of work for a large theme park in Southern California, Disneyland.

Sean and his team design and build the railroad lines including train cars, switches, tracks, turntables, trestles, bridges and tunnels, all of which are constructed at Hillcrest.

The steam-powered trains have been a crowd favorite at the farm. The ride-on train is one of the few steam engines still being used. This year, they announced a steam train apprenticeship program. While diesel engines are the standard in the train industry, the few steam engines still need people to run them.

The steam train shop is a unique revenue generator for the business. The uniqueness factor is ratcheted up by the Christmas trees.

Pick and cut

The Bautistas grow Monterey pines, the only Christmas tree that will live in the Valley because it’s too hot.

They also offer pre-cut fir trees that are a customer preference, but being able to cut your own tree is an experience you can’t find anywhere else nearby short of a national forest.

The farm has five acres of Monterey pines. Families can choose and cut the trees down themselves. According to Melissa, some families do that once and then they’re over it and some do it every year — and they love it.

Two of the business’s most popular draws include the pumpkin patch and Hillcrest Pajama Night during Christmas. Both events were not planned but worked out to be some of their visitors’ favorites.

For the pumpkin patch, Melissa was approached by her brother-in-law, who had 40 acres of squash and vegetables. He introduced the idea of a pumpkin patch, but at the time, Melissa was still wrapping her time around farming the Christmas trees and told him she wasn’t interested just yet.

He went ahead and planted them anyway.

“He called me in September and said your pumpkins look great,” said Melissa.

He arrived with truckloads of small pumpkins that were perfect for school kids. So Melissa called elementary schools in Reedley. Their first year of hosting kindergarten and pre-K students drew 200 visitors for the season. Today, there are 10,000 students from all over the Valley.

Christmas magic

Pajama Christmas was a total accident, Melissa said.

When the business was smaller, they would treat employees to a special train ride around Christmas time. When the farm closed at 5 p.m., the train engineer would stop at the station and call for the Red Flannel Express, leaving in 10 minutes.

“So everyone gets your hot chocolate and employees ride the train in the dark. It was the only time we ever ran in the dark. One time, my husband and I were sitting there freezing, and he said, ‘This is very magical. I think people would love this train at night,'” said Melissa.

Every year since then, the Pajama Christmas event has sold out. They started with a small number of nights for the pajama party. Now, 28 consecutive nights are filled with hot chocolate, laughing families and Christmas train rides.

There are still tickets available for some Pajama Christmas nights this season. Tickets can be purchased online. It runs daily through Dec. 23.

Next year, Hillcrest will celebrate 30 years since the start of their railroad. In late March of next year, at Reedley Railfest, they will have tickets for sale on the railroad extension down toward Reed Avenue. This project has been in progress for the last 25 years, said Melissa, and they are excited to show their friends and the community the railroad expansion at the farm.


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