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Edmonton’s city centre is sprucing up for the holidays.  This weekend, Millar Western harvested a giant white spruce from the forest near Whitecourt and delivered it to Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton for the city’s holiday celebrations. 

It’s the sixth year the company has provided the city’s “Tree of Lights,” the centrepiece of seasonal events organized by the Downtown Business Association and made possible by Millar Western, EPCOR and other sponsors.

“The Downtown Business Association has been doing this for almost 10 years and I think that everyone has agreed that this may very well be the prettiest tree that we’ve ever had,” association spokeswoman Katherine Hoy said on seeing the tree installed. “I was just in awe looking at the beauty of it.”

The majestic conifer was harvested from Millar Western’s sustainably managed forest area near Whitecourt.  Felling, loading, delivering and installing the 21-metre, 2,000 kg tree was a big task, undertaken by company forester Max Matthews and a team that included driver Shawn Prokipchuk of Ron Prokipchuk Trucking Ltd.  For safety on the roads, Max and Shawn made the journey from Whitecourt when traffic was light, rolling into downtown Edmonton in the early hours of Sunday, November 7. There, helped by a team from EPCOR, the two manoeuvred the big tree into its stand, ready for decorating.

This year’s tree will be decorated with 10,000 LED lights.  “That’s 2,000 more than last year, so it’s going to be quite spectacular,” Hoy said. This year’s Holiday Light-Up event will be held  Saturday, November 13, from 3 to 6 pm. Mayor Stephen Mandel and Santa Claus will flip the switch at 5 p.m. to light the tree and start a fireworks display. “The tree is going to just illuminate the skyline,” said Hoy. “It will be up till January, and I think the citizens of Edmonton are really going to love it.”

A 21-metre white spruce from Whitecourt will grace Edmonton’s downtown for the holidays.