By Tia Lyons
Staff Writer
EL DORADO — For the past several holiday seasons, one of the city’s most iconic Christmas attractions has grown worse for the wear, and Mayor Frank Hash is trying to drum up support to refresh and maintain what was once called “The World’s Tallest Man-Made Christmas Tree.”
Wear, tear and Mother Nature have wreaked havoc on the 200-foot Community Christmas Tree, which was erected in 1965 and which still adorns the former KTVE tower on West Main.
The bulbs, once a vibrant red and green, are now grossly faded and discolored. Hash said many of the bulbs — there are between 5,000 and 6,000 total lights on approximately 40 strands — are burned out, and several of the electrical wires are deteriorated.
“It’s looking pretty shabby, and there are a lot of people talking about it,” the mayor said.
To address the issue in time for the upcoming holiday season, Hash said he plans to present a funding proposal to the El Dorado Works Board when the group next convenes on Sept. 13.
“Our capital improvement tax has more than sufficient reserves to cover the less than $50,000 it would take to replace the (Christmas) icon,” Hash wrote in a recent email. “The new tree would be redesigned for better electrical safety and with LED bulbs that retain their colors better and certainly use less electrical current.”
He said property owner Shelli Cross has agreed to allow the city to use the tower at no cost, and the display would become city property.
Moreover, Hash and director of public works Robert Edmonds said the city is working with Lawrence Electric to develop a design concept that would include options to accommodate the use of the tree for events beyond the holiday season in a nod to efforts by El Dorado Festivals and Events, Inc., to develop an arts an entertainment district in Downtown El Dorado.
Edmonds said the city is looking into the future possibility of changing the colors of the bulbs via remote access and installing a system of cables and pulleys to lower and raise the light strands without having to hire crews to do the job by climbing the tower.
“With a new design and LED lights, electrical usage will go down. We’ll be able store the lights and get them out of the weather, which will help to prolong and preserve them for many years to come,” Edmonds said. “The $50,000 will take care of what’s there now.”
He also said that the microwave antenna equipment is expected to be removed from the top of the tower in the next two years or so, a move that would allow for the cap of the tree to reach all the way to the tower’s peak.
“Right now, we’re not able to get past those antennas, so we want to see what we can do about that now so it won’t look so lopped off at the top,” Hash said.
Hash and Edmonds said they hope to get the approval of the El Dorado Works Board to begin work on the tree in preparation of the 2016 holiday season and to help preserve a five-decades-old piece of local nostalgia.
Each year, the tree draws throngs of people who circle underneath it, though the numbers have reportedly dropped in recent years — likely due, in part, to the tree’s worn condition.
A survey taken between Dec. 4 and Dec. 25 in 1989 showed that 6,655 vehicles, with an estimated 25,000 people, drove underneath the tree while the tree was lit each day from 5 p.m. until midnight.
So far, Hash said he has mostly heard supportive feedback on the city’s efforts to save the tree, which he described as being “on its last legs,” and may not be functional this holiday season without immediate attention.
“I’d strongly recommend that the city refurbish this beloved display without any interruption of a long-standing Christmas tradition,” he wrote in the email.
“If we move fairly quickly, we’ll probably be able to do it this year. If we wait another month, we probably won’t make it,” Edmonds said. “A lot of people don’t want to see anything happen to that tree. It’s a signature piece for the city during the holidays.”
Tia Lyons may be reached at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.