Christmas tree decorating in most homes readying for the holiday starts after Thanksgiving, but when the tree is about 100 feet tall and takes 16,000 lights, one might want to start early.
Employees of St. Mary’s Services, atop basket cranes hoisting plastic bins filled with light strings, spent much of Wednesday hanging lights on Vancouver’s community Christmas tree at Esther Short Park.
“The tree gets bigger every year so they gotta buy more lights every year to put more on it,” said owner Jeff St. Mary. “They got that lift all the way to the top, plus they’re using a 20-foot pole to put lights all the way on top of that.”
The window-cleaning crew was stringing the multicolored lights in preparation for Friday’s tree-lighting event with the Vancouver Rotary Foundation.
St. Mary’s cleans windows, and also hangs Christmas lights during the winter season, St. Mary said. His business has been hanging the lights at Esther Short Park for about 10 years.
“We like doing it. It’s a change of pace, and we do several houses, probably about 60 homes,” he said.
The lights for this job come from the Vancouver Rotary and his company, he said.
“Last year the wind destroyed about 200 sets of them, and I replaced them as part of my service to the community,” he said. “That’s no problem. They’re paying me to do it, and I’m happy because we’re getting paid and having fun doing it.”
The first year St. Mary’s used volunteers to help hang the lights, he said.
“I had one of my volunteers set up one of my ladders upside down and start climbing it,” he said. He opted not to use volunteer help after that, he said.
Back then, they used 7-watt glass bulbs, powered by 28 extension cords running up the tree. The energy-efficient LED lights that they’re using now need only one skinny cable, he said.
The lights will come down after the first of the year, he said, and with any luck, there won’t be any damaging wind between now and then. Nor will the squirrels gnaw the cables, which caused a partial blackout two years ago.
The tree-lighting Friday kicks off the Vancouver Rotary Foundation’s Festival of Trees. The events and ceremony start at 5:15 p.m. Friday. Santa Claus will switch on the lights at 6 p.m.
Friday’s festivities will include live music and dance groups, a scavenger hunt and, after the tree is lit, a concert with the Vancouver Pops Orchestra at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.
Other activities, including model train exhibitions, a scavenger hunt and variety show, are planned throughout the weekend at the Hilton.
