Tree begins its trek to NYC Rockefeller Center to host family heirloom By Kristin Baver - Press Enterprise Writer November 6, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEMLOCK TWP. — Nearly 100 years after Iris Bird’s grandfather planted a tiny Norway spruce next to his barn here, she watched the now massive 13-ton evergreen be felled Wednesday morning. The 85-footer first caught the eye of Rockefeller Center’s head gardener Erik Pauze in 2010, while he was traveling on Interstate 80 on his way to a football game. By that time, the home was out of Bird’s family, under the ownership of Dr. Robert Warren, a Bloomsburg University professor, for 50 years. In 2012, it changed hands again. Among the stories new owners Dan Sigafoos and Rachel Drosdick-Sigafoos heard were New York City’s interest in making the tree the centerpiece of its Christmas display. So last year, Drosdick-Sigafoos volunteered the tree through an online nomination program, which brought Pauze knocking once more. Timber! For the last week, the neighborhood buzzed and a 24-hour security detail kept watch over the tree as crews wrapped the branches to prepare the conifer for its three-hour journey via oversized-load flatbed. Wednesday’s cutting drew a crowd that included local schoolchildren; Deb Keller, 61, whose Mifflinville family donated their own tree to the event in 2011; and Bird, 87, Catawissa, whose grandfather Charles Gideon Miller planted the tree over 95 years ago when he ran a grain and dairy farm at 228 Frosty Valley Road. “I’m glad to see where it’s going,” Bird said. Getting it there was an organized and carefully choreographed effort by Pauze and a crew of about 50. Before the first cut could even be made, the chain on the chain saw jumped off the bar. Later, as one man sawed through the 4-foot diameter base, Pauze used wooden wedges to keep the 26,000-pound tree from trapping the saw under its weight. A crane affixed at the top provided much of the support, allowing the evergreen to levitate briefly over its disembodied stump before being lowered to the ground nearby. “We just wanted it moved a little to the right,” Sigafoos joked. Workers brought in a ladder and shinned up into the tree, their white hard hats and neon safety gear barely visible through the gathered branches. They had to reposition the supports so the tree could be tilted onto its side smoothly and eventually maneuvered onto the waiting truck. 750,000 visitors a day Over the next two days, the tree will be transported slowly to New York, making several stops at secure locations before arriving at Rockefeller Center on Friday. Once there, it will be impaled on a giant metal spike and be put on display during the “Today” show. Over the coming weeks, crews will wrap individual limbs in 5 miles of multi-colored LED lights. Before the tree is lit Dec. 3, it will be topped with a Swarovski crystal star. The tree draws some 750,000 visitors each day through New Year’s and guzzles 90 gallons of water to retain a fresh, green appearance, Pauze said. The last day to see the tree will be Jan. 7. Drosdick-Sigafoos said the Rockefeller tree was an important part of her childhood, growing up in Verona, New Jersey, just outside the Big Apple. She also was raised in a family that valued charity work, sometimes forgoing opening presents on Christmas Day to hand out coats and meals to the homeless, she said. After the holiday season, the tree will be chopped up, with the trunk going to supply lumber for some Habitat for Humanity projects. The remnants are ground into pulp for paper to be used in a printing of “The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree.” Kristin Baver can be reached at [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 13:55:19 +0000
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