Borough Christmas tree makes annual debut

Picking the right Christmas tree can be surprisingly difficult, even in the middle of the largest U.S. national forest.

Officials from Wrangell Light and Power and the Department of Public Works scour woods, roads, and occasionally back yards in search the perfect tree year-round. The perfect tree is along a road, preferably a wide road (personnel have taken trees from the road near the city reservoirs in the past, meaning the large truck which carries the tree has to back in and then back out for as much as a mile) where large equipment can turn around. It doesn't have too many thick branches near the base, so it can easily be harvested and decked with lights. In mid-October, they settle on a few candidates and then seek the permissions necessary to fire up a chainsaw and get the best one.

"People's backyards are always nice, but those have been pretty well picked over," said Clay Hammer, Light and Power superintendent.

However, a small group of workers who turned up Nov. 25 less than a quarter mile past the end of Zimovia Highway to get this model say the only option for a Christmas tree in this neck of the woods is a Sitka Spruce.

"They're just the best trees," Hammer said. "Red cedar, the branches are really droopy. There's no strength to the branches or anything. Hemlocks always have a droopy top. You can always tell a hemlock because of the shape."

This year, personnel pulled a utility vehicle and a dump truck out onto a narrow gravel road. One man climbed into the tree to affix a sling. Then the chainsaw came out, and the tree – about 45 feet tall and an average of 35 years old (officials won't know how old the 2013 tree is until they count the rings) - lifted up into the air and nestled on the back of a trailer on the back of the dump truck, and made the about-13-mile pilgrimage from Tongass National Forest to a small alley between L N M gas station and the Elks Lodge along Front Street. Workers impaled the tree on a giant metal spike stand specially constructed for the borough tree.

Workers used the same utility truck to place a star and string some lights, and it sat waiting Thursday for the arrival of the most discerning of all critics, students from Evergreen Elementary.

"It's amazing how many kids can spot their decoration from a height of about 40 feet," Hammer said.

The tree will be officially lit during the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce's Midnight Madness event tomorrow at 6 pm.