City Times Staff

Crews from the Stevens Point streets dept. have finished installing the 2016 Downtown Christmas Tree.

The 30-foot blue spruce was installed last Tuesday, but according to Dennis Laidlaw, superintendent of streets, the process is not as simple as some might think.

“It takes a whole day just to transport it and set it up, then you’ve got to make sure it’s straight,” Laidlaw said. “Then we spent a whole day wiring on branches and making it look like a Christmas tree.”

Laidlaw said the tree was donated by the Hintz Family, who live on West Clark St., but it came with a thin spot on one side. A streets crew, lead by Kevin Bartkowiak, then took to finding matching branches to fill in the tree after hearing complaints from a downtown business owner.

“You’ve got to remember this is somebody’s yard tree, but people expect this to look like a Christmas tree,” Laidlaw said. “We got the lights up last night, and [city employee] Kenny Rozek is kind of our Christmas guy, so he decorated the tree and we should be all ready for Friday. We’ve got guys who really take pride in that tree.”

The tree will be lit at the start of the 2016 Downtown Christmas Parade, which kicks off a 6 PM on Friday, Nov. 18 on Main Street.