MINNEAPOLIS — The 105-foot custom-built 18-wheeler, decorated with handwritten messages and signatures and carrying an 88-foot white spruce with a base diameter of 30 inches, arrived at the Boy Scout’s Northern Star Council’s Base Camp, here, its 16th of 32 whistle-stops en route to Washington, DC, from the Chippewa National Forest in north-central Minnesota. Accompanied by a second semi-trailer filled with 70 smaller companion trees and 10,000 handmade ornaments, and followed by several U.S. Forest Service escort vehicles containing Santa and Mrs. Claus, Smokey Bear, forest officials and a special security detail, the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will wend through seven states and cover nearly 2,000 miles, stopping at hospitals, schools, military bases, state capitols, Boy Scout camps and city halls on its three-week tour to the nation’s capitol.    

“As you can imagine, the Capitol Christmas tree needs to have a truck of its own; it’s a big, big tree,” Mike Theune, public affairs officer with the U.S. Forest Service at Chippewa National Forest and the project leader, told The Produce News. “We have our own special security detail that goes along with it to ensure its safe journey all the way to Washington because we are not only representing our forests, but also the people of Minnesota and, in fact, our nation.”

The stately tree, harvested Oct. 29 by Minnesota Logger of the Year Jim Scheff, has a specially designed 50-gallon water bladder placed over its trunk, to provide it with needed hydration and nutrients during its long journey. Its first drink came from the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park and it consumes about 45 gallons of water every day.

The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree even has its own personalized logo that pays homage to its home state as well as the forest from which it came. This year’s logo design was a collaborative effort by the staff at the Chippewa National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service Eastern Region office and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and features images that honor Minnesota, its Native American heritage and the United States.

Each scheduled stop along the Christmas tree’s route has its own special celebratory event. The Boy Scouts at this location offered wreath-making demonstrations, cookie and ornament decorating, archery and rock climbing, and they also collected food donations to benefit the Neighborhood Food Shelf. Visitors took pictures with Santa and 70-year-old Smokey, signed their names on the sides of the trailer and peered through the 10-foot Plexiglas viewing area on the big rig to admire the majestic People’s Tree.

“When we heard we were supplying the tree, we knew right away that we would invite everyone to make ornaments,” said Theune. “Since we’re the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we set a goal of 10,000 ornaments.” Traditionally, the Capitol Christmas tree and companion trees are decorated with fewer than 5,000 ornaments.

Communities, schools, senior groups, veterans, hospitals, organizations and county fairs throughout the North Star State set up ornament-making stations and contests and soon hundreds of ornaments from people of all ages started pouring in to the office of Lynn Dee Stangel, Chippewa’s forest safety and occupational health specialist and ornament committee chair.

“We got beautiful wooden ornaments from experienced woodcarvers, and schoolchildren on the Leech Lake Reservation made little dreamcatcher ornaments,” Stangel said in a news release. Families painted pieces of driftwood to look like hanging icicles, while others collected strips of birchbark and made paper chains; each ornament expressed its individual creator’s personal story.

“Handcrafted by Minnesotans, young and old, from communities across the state, these ornaments represent the heart and soul of Minnesota,” said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in a news release.

“Half of those 10,000 ornaments will go on the U.S. Capitol tree and the other half will go on the 70 companion trees that will decorate congressional offices and other public spaces around Washington, DC,” Theune told The Produce News.

Speaker of the House John Boehner will light the Christmas tree during a ceremony Dec. 2 at 5 P.M. on the Capitol’s west front lawn, officially commemorating 50 years of the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree.

“The Capitol Christmas Tree brings with it excitement and anticipation for the season of giving, and a chance for us to come together in peace and goodwill,” said Boehner in a news release. “We are grateful to all involved in the safe passage of this great spruce, and hope people from across the country and the world will come see it lit on the West Front of the United States Capitol.”

The tree will be lit from nightfall until 11 p.m. each evening through Jan. 1, after which it, and the 70 companion trees, will be recycled into mulch and used on the Capitol grounds.

“Nothing gets wasted,” said Theune.