The Christmas tree that will stand in front of the U.S. Capitol will visit Quilcene, Port Angeles, Forks and Amanda Park next month on its way from Olympic National Forest to Washington, D.C.
For the first time, a Washington tree will be the Capitol Christmas tree on the west lawn of Capitol Hill, facing the Washington Monument.
The Noble fir will be decorated with 10,000 lights and more than 3,000 ornaments made by Washington state students.
But before it gets dressed up and lighted on Dec. 6 by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, the tree — about 75 feet tall — will take a tour of the state and then make its more than 2,000-mile trip to Washington, D.C.
The tree, towed on a 90-foot Fontaine Trailer by a National Van Lines truck, will stop in Quilcene at 3:15 p.m. Nov. 6.
After overnighting there, it will visit Port Angeles at 9:30 a.m., Forks at 12:30 p.m. and Amanda Park at 4 p.m. on Nov. 7.
It will not stop in either in Port Townsend or Sequim.
The sponsors of the tree’s tour, Capitol Christmas Tree 2006 (www.capitolchristmastree2000.org), are asking officials of each city on the route to hold a free, “everyone is invited” celebration to greet the tree.
Plans for the celebrations at the tree’s four North Olympic Peninsula stops are being finalized.
The big tree is a gift to the nation from the entire state.
It will be cut somewhere in Olympic National Forest in early November after a final selection is made by Ted Bechtol, the U.S. Capitol landscape architect. Several candidates were identified last summer.
The tree will go on a tour of the state beginning in Olympia on Nov. 6.
