The downtown Christmas Tree we have every year is truly a “green” tree in every sense of the word. After 30 or 40 years in service to the local property owners, it is “volunteered” (donated) for the community Christmas Tree. Bringing the tree downtown is a volunteer event: Oregon Trail Electric Co-op donates lift trucks and equipment, OTEC linemen and employees donate their Saturday morning and expertise, and Chuck Carey, master wood faller, volunteers to cut the tree down. The tree is then carefully cradled unto Don Glerup’s log truck. Don gingerly drives the massive shuddering tree downtown to its spot on Court Avenue. Then the process is reversed: as the tree is suspended in the air with cables, Chuck whittles the tree’s base to fit precisely into the vertical culvert imbedded in the street. A week later, crews from Baker City help decorate the tree. The lights are not turned on until the Twilight Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony. For several years now school children have hung peanut-butter-packed pinecones on the tree for the birds; many times I’ve walked by to hear the tree come alive with bird chatter!
After the holidays the tree is taken down by City crews and hauled to the Powder River Correctional Facility; there it is cut into firewood for the needy. Can you ask for a harder working tree, serving so many people, and helped by so many volunteers?
After the holidays the tree is taken down by City crews and hauled to the Powder River Correctional Facility; there it is cut into firewood for the needy. Can you ask for a harder working tree, serving so many people, and helped by so many volunteers?
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