Towering 28-feet over Main Street, the new City Hall Christmas tree is helping bring some festive cheer to Downtown Winnipeg.
“We’ve already been getting a lot of positive feedback on it and how nice it looks,” said Derek Resch, the Public Service Operations Supervisor, as the tree was being installed for the first time at the end of November, 2019.
The City of Winnipeg has started a new tradition of installing the artificial tree because crews were still cleaning up after the unprecedented October storm and were not able to install a donated live spruce tree.
The new tree provides an economical alternative to a live Christmas tree that
“This tree it’s a more sustainable solution and within two years it will have paid for itself,” said Resch. “The 15,400 lights used are all LED which also means the power consumption will be extremely low.”
Arriving in dozens of boxes and on several pallets, the tree’s set up started inside a City warehouse before being trucked downtown and lifted by crane into place in front of City Hall. Each branch had to be attached individually.
The tree comes with a 10 year warranty and has received a structural engineering stamp so it will be enjoyed for several years to come.
After being lit on December 3, the tree will stay up into the early New Year.