A holiday tradition returned to Columbus City Hall this week, reflected in the glass panels that mirror the entrance to the building.
A 22-foot blue spruce now stands in the center of the city hall entry-way plaza. But the tree’s journey to city hall is a little different than in past years.
Department of Public Works Director Bryan Burton said that every year, he and David Elsbury of Frank’s Tree Care spend a lot of time picking out the right city Christmas tree.
“The two of us always have our eyes open all year long, looking for a nice tree,” Burton said. And typically, once we’ve found the right one, the city will ask the resident who owns the tree (or, to be more precise, the property it stands on) if they’d be willing to donate the evergreen.”
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However, this year, the Christmas tree wasn’t donated by a resident, but instead by the Columbus Redevelopment Commission.
Redevelopment director Heather Pope said that the blue spruce was located on property that was purchased by the redevelopment commission for future development as part of the multifamily urban grocer project — meaning that the tree would be eventually torn down as part of that work.
Burton said that Elsbury had mentioned the spruce a couple times to him and that the tree had caught their attention last year as well.
The blue spruce was showing early signs of needle cast, so it was best to cut it down before the disease killed it, Burton said. The needle cast isn’t occurring fast enough to ruin the tree while it’s on display, he said.
“We were asked if we would be willing to donate the tree,” Pope said. “And we said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Burton estimated that the tree was originally around 27 feet tall, though it has now been cut down to about 22 feet. He estimated that it took at least 20 people to carry the tree up the steps of city hall to the plaza on Monday, and thanked staff from both public works and the parks department for helping set it up.
The tree was decorated this past week, and City Facilities Cirector Mike Pope said that the lights will be turned on the night of Thanksgiving. The tree usually stays up through early January, a week or two after New Year’s.
“We have a lot of people in the evenings that take their family pictures in front of it every year,” he said. “It brings a lot of visitors down to city hall in the evenings, just to walk around the tree and look at it.”
Burton said that the tree tradition is a festive way to start the holiday season.
“I think everyone looks forward to seeing what tree is up there this year,” he said. “That’s part of getting a live tree and picking it from somewhere within the community. So I think everybody enjoys it.”
Heather Pope said she hopes the tree will be a sign of some normalcy for the year, “… as 2020 has been a crazy year. And hopefully, this gives people some joy and hope.”
