“We can’t thank you enough for the cooperation from this little town in northern lower Michigan to help us get this tree,” Denny Olson, director of Michigan affairs for the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, said.

Onaway residents and students from Onaway Area Schools gathered at a home on Main Street to watch the tree get chopped down. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5857 acted as honor guards for the event, while the Onaway school band performed songs to commemorate the occasion.

The tree, a 60-foot spruce, will be taken to Lansing on Saturday to be prepped for the Silver Bells in the City event taking place on Nov. 17.

The tree was donated by Onaway resident Vic Ruppert after being selected as an ideal candidate by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.

News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Employees with the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget and Precision Forestry on Thursday cut down a tree in Onaway that will become the official state Christmas tree. The tree will on Saturday be taken to Lansing, where it will be prepared for the Silver Bells in the City event taking place on Nov. 17.

Ruppert donated the tree in honor of his late wife, Shirley.

The ordeal was “kind of overwhelming,” Ruppert said. “I usually don’t see this many people unless it’s the Fourth of July parade. So I was really pleased with the turnout.”

Temi Fadayomi can be reached at 989-358-5693 or tfadayomi@TheAlpenaNews.com.

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News Photo by Temi Fadayomi A crowd of Onaway residents gathers on Thursday to watch crews cut down a tree that will become the official state Christmas tree.