Holiday tree arrives at capitol Dec. 3, lighting ceremony on Dec. 7

November 28, 2012

Capitol Campus Update

OLYMPIA – The state holiday tree, the evergreen that adorns the Capitol Building rotunda each year, will arrive on the Capitol Campus at about 9 a.m. on Dec. 3.

The tree will be set up in the rotunda that day, but the decorating won't be finished until later in the week.

The annual public tree lighting ceremony, sponsored by the Association of Washington Business (AWB), is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 7 in the state Capitol Building rotunda.

Rayonier Inc. is donating this year's tree, a nearly 25-foot-tall noble fir cut from the company's property near Humptulips in Grays Harbor County.

For more than 20 years, AWB has been sponsoring the Holiday Kids' Tree Project, in which members and private individuals provide toys, food and other contributions that are distributed to needy families in rural parts of the state by firefighters from Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Thurston, Grant, Walla Walla and Spokane counties.

This year's tree will be decorated with 5,000 LED lights and new decorations that include red and green balls, red-and-white candy canes, silver bells and more. AWB pays for the lights and decorations. The lower branches will hold stuffed animals and books, which will be donated to local organizations.

Prior to the tree lighting, Gov. Chris Gregoire will present donor checks from the AWB Holiday Kids' Tree Project to local fire districts in the state reception room. She will also present gifts to the Shane Abold family. Abold, who serves in the U.S. Coast Guard at the Cape Disappointment Lifeboat Station, and his wife and two kids were chosen as this year's military family that "officially" turns on the holiday tree lights.

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