GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The City of Grand Rapids will be installing a Christmas tree Tuesday morning, ahead of the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Rosa Parks Circle on Dec. 1.
The tree-lighting will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The tree installation was scheduled to begin around 5 a.m. Tuesday.
The 40-foot fir tree comes from Dutchman Tree Farms in Manton, which is in Wexford County.
"It comes on a large flatbed and gets delivered right in front of Rosa Parks Circle and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. It's a 40-foot Concolor fir tree," said Monica Steimle-App, senior vice president at Rockford Construction.
This year’s tree sponsor is Charlie and Elizabeth Secchia & Family. Rockford Construction, Gelock Heavy Movers and Buist Electric handle the holiday installation and tree decorations.
"Gelock Heavy Movers is a partner that always helps us with their equipment; to get the tree off of the flatbed and into the underground stand. That's a permanent tree stand that's under the ground, just between the Grand Rapids Art Museum and Rosa Parks Circle," Steimle-App said.
She added that Shine Decorators will be stringing the lights and decorating the Christmas tree over the next week.
"Usually, once the tree goes up it takes a few days for the branches to settle into place. And once they start filling out, the decorators come in with almost 40,000 lights," Steimle-App said.
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File photo taken by James Gemmell, 2021.