Officials from the White House made a rare find Wednesday at the Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Mahoning Township.

It's a 19 1/2-foot concolor fir they selected to be the official White House Christmas Tree this year."It's unbelievable you can find a 20-foot high concolor," said Dale Haney, head superintendent of the White House, one of three officials who came from the White House to the farm Wednesday.This is only the third time since 1966 when selections came from members of the National Christmas Tree Growers Association that a concolor will be put in the Blue Room.Chris Botek, owner of Crystal Spring, pre-selected two trees to show the officials: the concolor and a Douglas fir.They gushed over both evergreens.Angela Reid, chief usher at the White House, found it so perfect that she had to ask, "Are you sure this is a real tree?"They looked at the concolor tree first, then traveled about a mile to a second location where they examined the Douglas fir. They came back to the concolor and Reid pronounced, "This is the tree."The selection process took more than an hour. Botek offered to show them more trees, but all the officials agreed that it would be one of the two.This is the fourth time since 2006 that Crystal Spring Tree Farm is supplying the official White House Christmas Tree.The tree is provided each year by the farm which has the national champion tree during the convention of the National Christmas Tree Growers. This year's convention, held in Michigan in July.Crystal Spring had the championship trees in 2006 and 2010. Last year, Crystal Spring provided the tree because the farm that won the national championship couldn't provide a tree that satisfied the requirements at the White House.Farms can only compete for the championship every four years.Haney visited Crystal Spring in 2010. At that time, after the White House tree was selected, Botek showed him the concolor fir and said he was grooming it for future display at the White House."He told me it would some day be at the White House," Haney said."That's quite a success story," said Rick Dungey, representing the National Christmas Tree Growers Association.Dungey came from the association's national headquarters in St. Louis for the White House tree selection.The entire Botek family was present: Francis and Margaret Botek, who owned the farm before Chris; his sister, Francine Botek; his girlfriend, Kyra Yurko; and their son, Jake Botek, 4 months old."The Boteks really know what they're doing," Dungey said after touring the tree farm. "They're great at their craft and profession."The concolor is a soft fir. Dungey touched the tree, then smelled his hands and commented, "Hmmm. I like this."The tree was planted in 1989.Haney said he picked the concolor because of its color, smell and shape. He also said it retains its needles longer than many other trees."I think we're fortunate to find this tree," Haney said. "It has great layering, we can put live decorations on it, and the smell is incredible."Botek said, "I think it's going to look beautiful at the White House. It will look spectacular."He said the concolor will be more difficult to transport to the White House than the Douglas fir would have been."This tree will be twice as heavy," he said. "It's a very dense tree."The Botek family will deliver the tree to Washington during Thanksgiving weekend and present it to first lady Michelle Obama.