GREENFIELD — The official lighting of the Greenfield Christmas tree isn’t until early December during the parade and holiday celebration. However, the Greenfield “Community Christmas Tree” is standing tall now at The Depot Street Park ready for community decorations.
Officials from the Greenfield Street Department posted on social media earlier this month asking for someone in the community to donate a 30- to 40-foot Christmas tree to be used as the “Community Christmas Tree” — one area residents get to decorate.
Thomas Moore, one of the owners of The Depot, 240 W. Mill Street, Greenfield reached out to Tyler Rankins, the Head of the Greenfield Street Department and said the Depot had a big 35-foot Christmas tree at the corner of Osage and Pennsylvania Streets they were willing to donate.
“We have a property just a little south of the Depot there and that tree was at a property where it was possibly going to have to come down anyway, so we decided to go ahead and donate it to the city,” Moore said. “It’s a perfect fit for the city, and now the tree can be decorated and everyone can enjoy it for Christmas.”
The town, family and the holidays mean a great deal to Moore and the others at the Depot, he said, which is why they can’t wait to see the Depot Street Park decorated and full of lights including those on the large Community Christmas Tree.
“It’s going to look great,” Moore said.
Rankins and his crews cut down the tree Monday morning, loaded it on a flatbed truck and hauled it to Depot Street Park. They then took it off the flatbed truck, set it upright and got it ready for community decorations.
“This is great and it’s a beautiful tree,” Rankins said. “We only had to transport it about a half a block right there to Depot Street so that made things a lot easier.”
Rankins noted the tree is large and sturdy, perfect for decorating with Christmas lights. His department will add all the Christmas lights by the end of this week and place a star on top but will leave the ornament decorating up to the community.
“We have the big tree that the city owns that goes on the stage that we use for the Christmas tree lighting every year, but this tree, we call the ‘Community Christmas Tree,’ we get it donated every year and then the people in the community can come and put their own ornaments on it if they want,” Rankins said.
Rankins noted he and his crews like having the annual Christmas tree lighting event, slated for Dec. 2 at Depot Street Park, rather than the Hancock County Courthouse Square because there is more room and that allows the crews to be more creative.
“By the time we get the Depot Street Park and the rest of the town all ready for the holidays, I’d say it’s about a five- to six-week project,” Rankins said. “But, we love it and we enjoy seeing people enjoy the holidays.”
It’s why he and city officials are glad that, for the third consecutive year, someone has been kind enough to donate a large “Community Christmas Tree” to help keep costs of decorating the area down.
“Even if we could find someone who has a Christmas tree this big, it would cost you thousands of dollars to get it and transport it,” Rankins said. “Last year, we got a tree donation out of the northern part of the county. The year before that, it was near Cumberland, so that was a little difficult getting them into town. But this year with Thomas and the Depot folks donating one so close, the transportation was a little easier.”
Now they just need community members to drop off some decorations for the “Community Christmas Tree” so they can get the ole fir tree looking good this holiday season.
“We know there are a lot of people who care about our community, so people can bring all kinds of Christmas ornaments and attach them to the Community Christmas Tree,” Rankins said.
By next week, the week of Thanksgiving, Rankins and crews will have all the lights up and on around town except for the tree they light during the Dec. 2 Christmas parade and light celebration at Depot Street Park.
