WASHINGTON — This District is kicking off the holiday season with the arrival of the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree. Crews will hoist the 80-foot tree up on the West Lawn f the Capitol. It's a tradition dating back 60 years.
The towering Sitka Spruce is in D.C. following a long journey from Alaska. The tree is named Wayne. Wayne comes from the Tongass National Forest. It's the second year the the Capitol Christmas tree has come from Alaska — the first one was in 2015.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, the Sitka Spruce is one of the tallest trees in the tradition's history. While most trees hover around 60 or 70 feet tall, there were two 88-foot-tall trees in 2013 and 2014. There was also another 80-foot tree in 2009.
We talked with one of the law enforcement officers who accompanied the tree on its trip. It took a lot of work.
"It was on a remote island, so they had to identify the tree, harvest the tree, get it on a barge to another island — and then from that island it got on a commercial transporter to another community. It had to switch barges there and then it got shipped all the way down. So it's about a 700-mile boat ride to get to the port of Seattle, and then we flew down to meet up with it and received it in the port of Seattle. Then we started driving across the country, so we put about 4,000 miles on the trucks to get it where we're at," said Joseph Boggs with the National Forest Service.
As it turned out, Wayne is actually the second tree that was picked out for the Capitol Christmas tree. Boggs said the first one was damaged in a storm and had to be replaced.
Once the tree takes its place at the Capitol, it will be decorated with 10,000 ornaments.
The lighting of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, a time-honored tradition celebrating 60 years in 2024, will take place during a ceremony on the West Front Lawn beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3. The tree will then be lit from dusk until 11 p.m. each evening through January 1, 2025.