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All of Michigan owes a special thanks to Onaway's Vic Ruppert, who donated a 60-foot spruce out of his yard to be used as Michigan's official state Christmas tree.
The Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget and the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association visited Onaway last week to saw down Ruppert's tree, load it on a truck, and haul it to Lansing.
There, the tree will be erected on the east lawn of the state Capitol building and dressed up in Christmas lights, which will be illuminated on Nov. 17 at Lansing's Silver Bells in the City holiday parade.
It makes us proud that Michiganders from across the state who visit their statehouse will see a heartwarming symbol of the season from right here in Northeast Michigan.
This region really knows how to celebrate Christmas and holds all the tenets of Christmas -- joy, peace, benevolence, and thanksgiving -- in its collective heart.
How fitting that we send the towering symbol of those things to the seat of our state government, where tens of thousands of tourists and those with business before the Legislature will see it and, hopefully, be calmed by its beauty.
The state began erecting an official tree at the Capitol in 1987. Since then, 13 trees have come from the Lower Peninsula, and two of those 13 have come from right here in Northeast Michigan. In 2018, the state chose a tree donated by Shelly and Michael Catto of Alpena as the state Christmas tree.
Ruppert's tree is the first from Presque Isle County.
Thank you, Vic, for sharing a piece of your home with the rest of us Michiganders.
Merry Christmas, one and all.
(THE ALPENA NEWS)