On Saturday morning, hundreds will gather to officially kick off the season with caroling, speeches and good cheer as they watch the cutting of the 100-foot-tall picture-perfect subalpine fir that will eventually end up on the U.S. Capitol's west lawn.
It's an event that Montanans have been working toward ever since last year's announcement that the 2008 Capitol Christmas Tree would come from the Bitterroot National Forest.
“It should be quite an event Saturday morning,” said Nan Christiansen, 2008 Montana Capitol Christmas Tree coordinator and spokeswoman for the Bitterroot National Forest. “There will be refreshments, caroling and warming fires.”
Everyone is invited to take part.
The U.S. Forest Service will have signs set up along Skalkaho and Rye Creek roads to help guide anyone wanting to take the 20-minute drive from Hamilton to the site. There will also be bus service available from the juncture of the two roads. The first bus will leave at about 9 a.m., the second at 9:30 a.m.
About a half-hour of caroling beginning at 9:30 will help set the mood. Speeches get under way at about 10 a.m. Montana's Jack Gladstone will perform the song he's written about the tree and members of the Salish and Kootenai tribes will offer a blessing.
Following all that, a crane operator will ease his machine in close and take hold of the tree. And then a Forest Service employee and a longtime Montana logger will work together to cut it down.
“We're hoping for the best,” Christiansen said. “Twenty years ago in Libby, the tree fell to the ground and broke. They had to go and cut down their second choice tree. That's why we have the crane.”
The tree will be carefully lowered into a custom-made cradle constructed by the Trapper Creek Job Corps. A watering boot made by Hamilton's Coyote Gulch Timber Works will be placed over its base.
And then the slow trip out of the woods will begin.
Hamilton's Mildenberger Motors, in conjunction with the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce and Farmers State Bank, will host the first of many public receptions planned across the state over the next few weeks.
The reception includes a silent auction of artwork entered in a Capitol Christmas Tree 2008 contest held last July and other pieces. People will also have a chance to win the Christmas Tree sapphire, donated by Asmus Jewelers.
The Hamilton reception will be the only time people will have an unrestricted chance to view the tree in its specially-made cradle before it's wrapped up tight for the trip across the country. The reception runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Once the tree leaves Hamilton, it will be covered in plastic. People will have to peek through a Plexiglas window to get a look.
After Hamilton, the tree next stops in Stevensville on Tuesday at about noon. Later that night, there will be a celebration in Missoula at the Wingate Inn starting at 5 p.m. On Wednesday, it will be in Pablo at about 11 a.m. and Columbia Falls at about 5 p.m.
Forest Service officials are expecting quite a reception in the Montana communities.
“All of the people who've helped out have really been phenomenal,” said the Bitterroot National Forest's Roylene Gaul. “We've had so much wonderful support.”
“This is really one of those life-changing events for a lot of people,” Christiansen added.
People from all over the state have created thousands of ornaments to decorate the tree.
“We have close to 5,000 ornaments and we expect to pick up a lot more,” Gaul said. “All of the communities where we plan to stop have told us they have more ornaments. I expect we'll probably get 1,000 more.”
The tree was one of several selected by the Capitol architect this summer.
“Most of our most perfect trees grow in very wet areas,” Christiansen said. “We were reluctant to cut one from those riparian areas. ... This was just the right tree for a lot of different reasons.”
As of Monday, this most perfect tree is under 24-hour guard.
“That's the way it will be now until the day we turn it over to the Capitol police,” Christiansen said.
See the tree
Locations to view the 2008 Capitol Christmas Tree in western Montana:
Saturday: Cutting site outside of Hamilton, follow signs along Skalkaho and Rye Creek roads or take 9 or 9:30 a.m. bus from intersection of roads. Caroling begins at 9:30 a.m. Speeches are at 10 a.m. with cutting afterward. Public reception at Mildenberger Motors in Hamilton is at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday: The tree stops in Stevensville at about noon. At 5:30 p.m., it will be at the Wingate Inn in Missoula.
Wednesday: The tree stops in Pablo at about 11 a.m. and Columbia Falls at about 5 p.m.
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