"The People's Tree" Arrives at the US Capitol Ahead of the Holidays

WASHINGTON, D.C. - It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our nation’s capital. On Friday, the US Capitol Christmas Tree arrived after traveling thousands of miles to DC from Alaska. 

“This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Capitol Christmas Tree and we are honored to have the [inaudible] spruce all the way from the Tongass National Forest located in the great state of Alaska,” said Jim Kaufmann Director of the Capitol Grounds and Arboretum. “We’ll spend the next several days decorating the tree with thousands of LED lights and thousands of hand-crafted ornaments, hand crafted by the people of Alaska.”  

The Capitol Christmas Tree, better known as “The People’s Tree,” is an iconic part of the holidays in our nation’s capital, but finding the perfect tree takes a lot of work.  

“The entire selection took about a week,” said Kaufmann. “They narrowed the search down to eight trees. They went over a million acres of forest to narrow down a selection of trees. We ventured out to each location and inspect each tree to find the perfect tree. 30 foot 25 to 30 foot bottom skirt to being roughly 70 foot tall. This one topped out at 80.” 

And getting it here is a huge task. 

“This is a great honor this is my second time,” said truck driver John Schank. “I did it in 2015 and I'd do it again if I get a chance.”  

“This is our tree, this is the tree of the people and I'm one of the people,” said truck driver Fred Austin. “And I'm glad I got to deliver that. It’s a good trip, good ending.” 

The tree traveled thousands of miles across land and sea, spreading holiday cheer along the way.  

“The real journey is the people,” said Austin. “It’s a show and tell all across the country. And that show and tell everybody is [inaudible there’s no grouches. Everything was great. It's the people that make the great trip.”