The People's Tree

A few weeks ago, the City of Chicago announced it would scale back on its annual Christmas tree due its high cost of $300,000. The tradition was to construct a huge tree out of dozens of smaller ones wired together. This year only one large tree would be used at a cost of a mere $100,000.

John Williams, WGN morning radio personality, went on a rant, exclaiming he and a few buddies and listeners could put up a 25' tree for only the cost of a carton of Old Style. And the calls poured in. Along with offers of help. Many offers.

This week, John and friends cut down a donated 24' fir tree out in Morris, Illinois. A volunteer with a trailer drove it to downtown Chicago. Another volunteer with a huge crane met them at the Tribune Tower and it was positioned in the courtyard. A maintenance crew from the Tower secured it to the building. WGN's Mr Fix-It, Lou Manfredini, donated 5000 LED lights from his Ace Hardware store, and another listener picked them up and delivered them to the Tower. And countless listeners stopped by the station, dropping off homemade ornaments.

Here's a video of the process...



Here's an audio montage of the on-air conversations that brought about this tree...


Still photos of the process can be found here...