by Bob Edwards
Some say that the Holiday Season starts with the trick or treaters. Others say Thanksgiving dinner is the opening event. For this reporter the holidays really kick off with the arrival of the OB Holiday Tree, an event that happened this Tuesday morning in a finely coordinated process perfected over the years by Town Council volunteers, arborists, crane operators, and SD Police Department officers.
Community members and neighbors gathered at 7 am today to observe the harvesting of the 40 foot tree from a home on Muir Street, a few blocks east of Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Three hours later the tree had been cut down, transferred to the foot of Newport on a flatbed truck, and lowered into the concrete-encased vertical steel pipe that lies dormant beneath the sand for eleven months out of each year.
Grown from a live Christmas tree purchased in 1975 and planted about five years later, the tree was donated by a family with deep OB roots who wish to remain anonymous. In high winds the tree was starting to threaten the family’s home as it swayed back and forth so they kindly decided to donate the star pine to the community.
According to Stacie Woehrie of the OB Town Council, the funds for moving the tree were raised by the OBTC. Total cost keep going up, said Stacie and this year they amounted to about $5000.
Ken, a former Town Council board member, was helping coordinate the entire process.
A day or two ago, he met workers from the City’s Storm Water Management Department who used a giant vacuum to suck the sand out of the concrete pipe in which the tree’s butt end was placed.
The pipe is about 5 or 6 feet long and over the year fills up beneath its cast iron lid as surf, tide, and wind accumulate sand over its opening.
Once the tree is lowered into place, the space around the tree’s trunk is shimmed with pieces of milled lumber as the crane attempts to hold the tree as straight as possible in the hole. Later today, the city will backfill a sand berm around the trunk and place a fence around it. Later this week the community will decorate the tree so it will be in full splendor in time for the Holiday Parade on Saturday.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Fake news! Look at the Abbott Street sign!
Very sad to see another OB tree cut down for a holiday based on a fairy tale. The reason given, fear of how the tree acts in the wind, was not realistic. If you read about star pines, one of their characteristics is their ability to withstand strong winds. These trees are considered ideal for coastal conditions. What a shame.
Merry Christmas OB from neighbors North of you here in Temecula! May the holiday spirit live in your heart all through the coming year ?