HELENA – The Montana State Capitol is looking and smelling a lot more like the holidays.
A crew of ten spent Friday setting up a Christmas tree in the rotunda.
It takes a lot of equipment, about seven bins of ornaments, and 10 to 12 strands of lights to get the tree picture-perfect.
It also takes some Treasure State teamwork.
“This is the people’s house,” said general services administrator Steve Baiamonte. “Traditionally, people like to put in a tree for the holidays. Secondly, because we’re an agricultural and timber state, it’s something really cool we can do to showcase a really important industry in Montana.”
Baiamonte says the 1,000 pound, 30-foot Douglas Fir is from Deer Creek in Lewis and Clark County.
Lincoln-based Wayne Sherill Logging harvested the tree, donated by the McDonald Family Ranch in Canyon Creek.
“How could you possibly put a tree in from anywhere other than Montana?” said Baiamonte. “So we work with the Montana Logging Association every year, to try to find a tree close by that will be suitable to get into the rotunda.”
Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney even helped hang a few ornaments Friday afternoon.
Baiamonte says the tree will stay put until the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
It will be mulched once it’s taken down.
