O, Christmas Tree!

How the iconic holiday centerpieces are chosen each year

By Rachel Pasche | Dec. 13, 2025

’Tis the season for big, brightly lit trees in downtowns across northern Michigan. Whether you’re driving through town on your way to visit family for the holidays, stopping into your favorite shop to grab gifts for loved ones, or enjoying dinner out, odds are you’ll encounter a stately evergreen situated at the heart of town, bedecked in colorful lights and ornaments.

We spoke with the people who make these enormous decorations possible and are responsible for orchestrating the festive function each year. The stats are impressive: these trees weigh thousands of pounds and require hundreds of light strands and large crews of people to make it all happen.

Traverse City

Matt Bright, Traverse City Parks Division Supervisor, chooses a tree each year based on several factors: available donations, height (he looks for trees between 30 and 50 feet tall), width (to ensure traffic can get around the tree, though this year, the tree too wide and that section of Cass is closed), location for ease of transportation, and whether the tree is going to be taken down soon anyway for threats to property or disease.

The “perfect tree” has come from a different location for the past 21 years. Typically, the tree selected is a blue spruce, mainly because they’re easy to find in the area. Other common tree varieties chosen are Norway spruce or firs. This year’s tree is 45 feet tall, just over 30 years old, and weighs around 3,800 pounds.

“It takes a lot of people, planning, and equipment to make it all happen,” Bright says. “Elmers has at least two equipment operators on-site for at least five hours, plus supervisors and planners involved ahead of time. The cutting down, hauling, and placing of the tree will usually take the rest of the crew five to six hours. Elmers donates their time and equipment for this event.”

Two Parks employees with two bucket trucks decorate the tree with string lights and a star on top. This usually takes two or three days and around 4,000 lights, depending on the size of the tree. After the holiday season, the Parks department is responsible for taking down the tree as well. Most of the tree is chipped up, and the chips are used on nature trails.

Manistee

Sammie Lukaskiewicz, executive director of the Manistee County Tourism Authority, says this year’s tree, an enormous blue spruce, comes from Leslie Edikauskas, the former Mayor Pro Tem of Manistee. Edikauskas planted the tree 40 years ago when he and his wife bought their home. In response to a Facebook post calling for the tree, Edikauskas replied he would donate the tree, which stands 33 feet tall and weighs a whopping two tons. The towering evergreen will be put up and decorated with 5,000 lights, nearly 50 red bows, and a large star on top. Set up and decoration is done by the City of Manistee Department of City Public Works, who will also take the tree down afterward.

Petoskey

This year, the city of Petoskey replaced the tree in town used as the centerpiece for the annual Christmas decorations. The previous tree, a grand 40-foot evergreen, was in poor shape and the city has deliberated for some years whether to create a manhole and bring in a new tree each year, as other towns do, or to plant a new tree. Ultimately, the city decided the most sustainable option was to plant a new tree, a 20-foot blue spruce donated by the Louis A. Hoffman Nursery of Harbor Springs. The moving and planting of the new tree was done by Matthews Nursery of Harbor Springs, which generously donated time to the cause. Amy Tweeten, Downtown Manager of Petoskey, anticipates the tree will use around 3,500 lights this year. 

Northport

The “North Pole” of Leelanau County, Northport kicks off the holiday season by decorating the enormous tree outside of The Mitten Brewery. The tree stands around 50 feet tall and is decorated with over 5,000 multi-colored lights, plus enormous colorful ornaments that make the tree the spotlight of downtown during the winter. The tree is decorated by the Northport Nutcrackers and the Northport Tree Lighting Committee. Since the tree is planted, it stands year after year, a distinguishing landmark in the town.

Gaylord

Gaylord is set to continue the tradition of building the annual Ice Tree, a chilly monument that dates back to 1957. Crafted using scaffolding, ice, and carefully determined water pressure, this magnificent monument decorates Downtown Gaylord all winter long. The size of the tree is determined by the weather, so it’s never set in stone how large the Ice Tree will be around Christmastime.