PORTLAND, Ore. — A 75-foot Christmas tree arrived at "Portland's living room" on Wednesday for the 39th year.
Crews are working to get it in place for the big tree-lighting ceremony set for the day after Thanksgiving.
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Hundreds of people — and even Santa — gathered around Pioneer Courthouse Square to watch the process of the tree arriving to the tree being secured in the pedestal. A huge crane was used to lift the tree into place, along with 30 crewmembers from Stimpson Lumber.
The tree was donated by Stimpson Lumber as in years past. The lumber company said the Douglas fir traveled from Elsie, Oregon. It weighs 7,000 pounds, is 75 feet tall and is close to 40 years old. It was picked at the beginning of September by Rodney Jacobs, Silviculture's manager of Stimpson Lumber.
"It's a great relief to have the tree here; otherwise, I do enjoy the process," Jacobs said.
For those who will see the tree this week, it may look a little bare, but according to Jacobs, that will change.
"There's about 400 extra branches that will be added to the tree that will fill in all the natural gaps," Jacobs said.
The tree-lighting ceremony will be streamed live on KGW.com and KGW+.
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