An evergreen from the state of Washington arrived in Washington, D.C. Workers are already preparing it to become the 2013 Capitol Christmas Tree. A 79 year old Engelmann spruce was selected in August, and for the last few weeks, it has been on a 5,000 mile goodwill trip from Colville National Forest, stopping at more than two dozen points along the way from the Pacific Northwest to Washington, D.C.
House Speaker John Boehner will preside over the illumination on Tuesday evening, December 3rd at 5 p.m.
The 88 foot tall tree will be displayed on the West Front and will be decorated with about 10,000 lights and thousands of handcrafted ornaments from the people of Washington state. 5,000 handmade ornaments from children around the nation will also adorn the tree. Public donations and corporate sponsorships have covered about $400,000 of the expense, according to Jeff Olson, president of “Choose Outdoors,” a non-profit group that encourages people to enjoy public lands and other outside recreation. Olson’s group helped organize the fundraising to bring the tree to the U.S. Capitol, including a donation of two brand-new 18 wheelers and a donation of airline tickets to get the transport crews home to Washington State.
Riding along in the big rig for part of the ride, Olson said the CB radio brought “lots of comments about how much this is costing us taxpayers,” which included some unkind speculation about certain politicians. “So it was great, when you hear that, and you’re able to respond ‘this is paid for by the private sector,” Olson said.
I have to wonder how long it will take before we start hearing the references to the ‘holiday tree’ or the ‘winter tree’ despite it’s total separation in financing from the tax payer. Unfortunately, I’ve already heard one mainstream media outlet referring to it as “the holiday tree” and it isn’t even up yet!