Christmas tree lifted from truck

Christmas tree lifted from truck

The large Christmas tree that will stand tall outside the Governor’s Mansion throughout the holiday season is in place after being hoisted onto the grounds by a crane and secured by Missouri Department of Conservation officials.

This year’s tree is a Norway Spruce donated by Jim Weber of Centralia. Justine Gartner, the Department’s Forestry Field Programs Supervisor, says finding a beautiful tree for the Governor’s Mansion is not easy to do.

Christmas tree hoisted into place

Christmas tree hoisted into place

“Since it’s such a challenge to find we usually start that hunt in July, August, in the summertime – not when people are thinking about Christmas,” said Gartner. “It takes quite a bit of hunting to find it and we look everywhere in the state. The trees come from Unionville, which is up north in Missouri, they come from St. Louis. We go statewide looking for this particular tree. We got fortunate this year – this one was close to central Missouri so it just worked out nicely.”

Christmas tree home on the Mansion's South Lawn

Christmas tree home on the Mansion's South Lawn

Moving the tree from the back of a truck to the grounds of the Mansion is no easy task, but a crane is available to get the job done.

“Luckily, we’re fortunate to have a crane company donate their services,” said Gartner. “They’ve got one that is long enough and tall enough, I should say, to get the tree up, over, to get it placed safely.”

The tree will be decorated with lights and will remain in place until approximately the first of the new year.