Holiday Season, Local News
PHOTOS: Cedar Rapids’ Christmas tree by the Tree
Posted on Nov 30, 2009 by admin.
Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation employees Glenn Shulz of Cedar Rapids (from left), Harlin Andresen of Cedar Rapids, Mark Jacobs of Marion and John Salzbrenner of Marion pull support cables as the official Cedar Rapids Christmas tree is installed near the Tree of Five Seasons Monday. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
Anyone looking for this year’s city Christmas tree will need to look in a different spot.
Concerns about flood damage to the underground parking garage on May’s Island forced a move from the center of the island to First Avenue and First Street NE, where the big evergreen will share space with the metal Tree of Five Seasons.
The real tree was donated by Evelyn and Dan Nuehring of 729 18th St. NW, who planted the white fir in their front yard in 1989. It was 6 feet tall but kept growing an growing until it threatened to overwhelm the house.
So donating the tree to the city in exchange for free removal seemed like a “win-win” for everyone.
Still, the owners felt a bit nostalgic as they watched a crane lift the approximately 25-foot-tall tree to a waiting truck.
“I was just saying goodbye to it because we had a wonderful time when it was decorated,” Evelyn Nuehring said Monday morning. “But it got so big, so many lights to put on, we had to say, ‘That’s enough.’”
Evelyn Nuehring works in the city’s golf department, but even that “edge” won’t get a tree chosen ahead of others. The Nuehrings offered the city the tree several years ago but had to wait their turn for the holiday honor.
The new spot for the tree presented no problem for parks and recreation workers, who handled the move again this year. One veteran parks worker, on the job for 37 years, said Cedar Rapids probably started putting up a city Christmas tree 45 or 50 years ago.
Cedar Rapids Parks Superintendent Dan Gibbins believes the new location is more visible and may draw more sightseers.
“You know, as people wrap around (Interstate) 380 and come down First Avenue, they’ll get a good view of it — so it’s a good spot for the community,” Gibbins said.
If you want to see the tree’s lights come on, be downtown at 5 p.m. Saturday. The ceremony marks the opening of the Fire & Ice Festival, which will be followed by the holiday parade — and the arrival of Santa — at 6 p.m.
Concerns about flood damage to the underground parking garage on May’s Island forced a move from the center of the island to First Avenue and First Street NE, where the big evergreen will share space with the metal Tree of Five Seasons.
The real tree was donated by Evelyn and Dan Nuehring of 729 18th St. NW, who planted the white fir in their front yard in 1989. It was 6 feet tall but kept growing an growing until it threatened to overwhelm the house.
So donating the tree to the city in exchange for free removal seemed like a “win-win” for everyone.
Still, the owners felt a bit nostalgic as they watched a crane lift the approximately 25-foot-tall tree to a waiting truck.
“I was just saying goodbye to it because we had a wonderful time when it was decorated,” Evelyn Nuehring said Monday morning. “But it got so big, so many lights to put on, we had to say, ‘That’s enough.’”
Evelyn Nuehring works in the city’s golf department, but even that “edge” won’t get a tree chosen ahead of others. The Nuehrings offered the city the tree several years ago but had to wait their turn for the holiday honor.
The new spot for the tree presented no problem for parks and recreation workers, who handled the move again this year. One veteran parks worker, on the job for 37 years, said Cedar Rapids probably started putting up a city Christmas tree 45 or 50 years ago.
Cedar Rapids Parks Superintendent Dan Gibbins believes the new location is more visible and may draw more sightseers.
“You know, as people wrap around (Interstate) 380 and come down First Avenue, they’ll get a good view of it — so it’s a good spot for the community,” Gibbins said.
If you want to see the tree’s lights come on, be downtown at 5 p.m. Saturday. The ceremony marks the opening of the Fire & Ice Festival, which will be followed by the holiday parade — and the arrival of Santa — at 6 p.m.
I found a huge error in your logic CR21CnBack…. since when does anyone do 55 mph on I-380?!
Someones getting coal in there stocking this year.
Waste of taxpayer money again way to go Cedar Rapids. Also how the heck is this called news.
The "Tree of No Reason" has been a joke since day one. I remember I almost cried when they grubbed out a 100 year old Oak tree to put up this eye sore. I have posted pictures of "The Worlds Largest Toilet Brush" on the net for years, and the overwhelming response is "What the heck is THAT"? This "Symbol of our city" has been in disrepair for years before the flood. I remember stopping there in 2007 and seeing that there was only one light left illuminating it, the others were either burned out, or the protective lenses had been smashed, making them a safety hazard to anyone to step in. The city history kiosk has been missing for I don't know how long, and the entire area was covered with skateboard grindmarks, despite the fact it's easily patrolled from 1st Ave.All we need now, is a giant toilet plunger to complete the set.
As for the underground parking ramp being "unsafe" if that is true, then Memorial Colosseum, the county court house, and jail must be also, since they all were exposed to the same conditions. 96Bravo is 100% right, that ramp was designed to withstand a nuclear attack, and there is no way the flood of 08 did any more damage than any other time it was flooded . Someone must think the citizens of C.R. are easily fooled.