Miller property delivers borough Christmas tree

The glow of the holidays in Wrangell got a little bit brighter over the weekend as the borough’s 2011 Christmas tree was cut and placed downtown on Friday, Dec. 2.

The tree, a 43-foot tall Blue Sitka Spruce, came to Front Street courtesy of the backyard of Steve Miller and his family. Wrangell’s Electrical Department Director Clay Hammer took down the tree with help from his staff and some heavy equipment.

“We had Dave Joseph, Mark Armstrong and Dwight Yancey helping out on this one,” Hammer said. “We used a bucket truck to hook a boom truck up to the tree because it was too difficult to get a ladder in. After that, we used the boom truck to lay it down and re-rigged it to lift it.”

It took about 45 minutes for the tree to be rigged up and taken down, and particular care was taken not to damage the fence on Miller’s property or the deck behind his family home. After the tree was laid down in the back yard, it was a simple affair to secure the mammoth spruce once again and lift it over the fence into the Alaska Marine Lines parking lot.

“We changed our pick points to make sure we did it safely,” Hammer said. “We had two points and that allowed us to pick it up level. We also had tag line to be able to swing it back and forth and control it from the ground.”

The tree was next placed on a platform for delivery through downtown on Front Street, where it found its resting place between L&M Services and the Wrangell Elks Lodge.

“Jeff Rooney with Public Works provided a dump truck and tilt deck for use in getting it into town,” Hammer added. “The next step was to rearrange our pick points one more time so it dangled with the butt portion straight down. We stood it up and rotated it right into the hole. It went like clockwork.”

Hammer added that the spruce was not easy to get – and that the Millers and AML’s Greg McCormack were to thank for the tree this year.

“It was hard to find a good tree this year,” Hammer said. “It seemed like when we look for a tree, it always comes together at the last minute. Nothing stood out as the tree we wanted until I was headed up Church Street. I saw it as I was going up the road and it looked perfect, with Christmas written all over it. There didn’t appear to be easy access to it, though. AML containers and the fence were in the way, and we weren’t even sure Steve would give it to us. We asked him and his wife, Heather, and they told us they’d been trying to get rid of it forever. The next step was to get Greg McCormack on board and he allowed us to use his yard to do it, while AML moved a dozen containers so we could have access to it during their barge week.”

The tree is decorated yearly with lights, a topping star and hand-made ornaments designed by students at Evergreen Elementary. It traditionally lights up on the evening of the “Midnight Madness” sales event in downtown – which was set for this past Friday.

“After the lights are on, which we put up on Wednesday, the kids came down on Thursday to set the ornaments. We were ready to throw the lights at 6 p.m. on Friday night. It was just beautiful when it happened.”

The tree traditionally stays lit until just after New Year’s Eve.