The Airstream trailer anchoring a roadside Christmas tree pop-up lot in the 2019 Hallmark movie “Christmas Under the Stars” was fictional, but the tree lot setting was not.

Based on a story by Park Forest native Rikk Dunlap, the movie was born in the annual fir-filled lot established each November along Sauk Trail adjacent to Joann’s Food & Liquor in Richton Park. 

“I love the holidays and seeing that just always got me into the Christmas spirit,” Dunlap told Daily Southtown columnist Donna Vickroy in 2019, in advance of the movie’s premiere.

While “Christmas Under the Stars” lives on in reruns, its inspiration has become a ghost of Christmas past. Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold, whose family had long operated the pop-up Christmas tree lot, didn’t haul any trees into town this season for the first time in about 40 years.

“We finally had to pull the plug,” he said.

Reinbold said dwindling business over the last four years dictated the closure.

“Two of those years we were breaking even, and for the last two years we were actually losing money,” he said. “We had to decide not to do it this year.”

In its heyday, Reinhold said his family would sell in excess of 600 trees at the Sauk Trail lot in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

“We were down to, if we were lucky, moving 150 trees off the lot,” he said. “It just got to be a numbers decision.”

He said artificial trees were taking a larger share of the market, while box-store tree sales also cut into his business. Beyond the sales numbers, Reinbold said sourcing the trees also became troublesome.

“Our growers, over the years, some have gotten out of the wholesale tree business,” he said. “It’s been difficult to find suppliers that could provide us trees at a reasonable cost.”

Drawing customers from blue-collar suburbs such as Richton Park, Park Forest and Chicago Heights, selling affordable trees was one of their hallmarks.

“That was our niche,” Reinbold said. “We weren’t a lot that sold $200 trees. We wanted to make sure we were affordable for all those years.”

Once ubiquitous, independent tree lots have become hard to spot in the rapidly changing suburban retail environment.

“I think the writing has been on the wall for local lots for years,” Reinbold said. “In our region, there used to be seven or eight, and everyone was making money. That was 10 or 15 years ago. But over the years, they experienced and had to make the same decision we had to make, unfortunately.”

When it became apparent the old, boxy white camper trailer — portrayed by the Airstream in the Hallmark movie — that was long the tree lot’s temporary headquarters would not be towed to the Sauk Trail lot, Reinbold said he heard from longtime customers.

Among those who reached out was Dunlap, who said he’d had inquiries about the missing tree lot. Reinbold said they thought about putting up a sign in the lot where tree sales were a seasonal presence for decades, but “figured it would be self- explanatory when you drive by.”

“There’s a lot of disappointed families and we feel bad about that,” he said. “It’s heavy on our heart because we really felt it was a community obligation to have that available. But we weren’t able to keep it going.”

Reinbold said he and his family haven’t ruled out the possibility of the lot returning.

“If we’re able to find a provider that can give us what we need for our community, we’d consider it, but it would depend on a number of factors,” he said. “But we want to be open to the possibility of next year, mostly because it’s hard for me to let go.”

For now, they have the memories of decades of Christmas tree sales. And the Hallmark Christmas movie set in Richton Park was a point of pride for the village’s mayor.

“We got national recognition over that,” Reinbold said. “It was great for the lot, and great for the village to have that. The Hallmark movies are all feel-good movies, so we got a lot of positive feedback.”

But the larger impact over the years, he said, came from a much smaller source.

“I think the kids were the best part of it,” he said. “Seeing them being excited, and the wonderment of Christmas, and knowing that Santa was coming around the corner.”

Those kids always got a candy cane or two as they helped their families choose the perfect tree, or searched the lot for the mischievous elf on a shelf. Those customers have included multiple generations of families, Reinbold said, just as generations of his family have helped operate the lot.

“There’s been a lot of family involvement over the years, a lot of nieces and nephews enjoyed coming and participating. So it wasn’t a decision I made lightly,” he said.

“We’ve enjoyed doing it, and probably as much or more than our customers, we’ll miss it. Probably more than them.”