Tourists visit ‘People’s Tree’ at foot of Capitol
December 09, 2013 | 05:00 PM
The lights on the Capitol “People’s Tree” are turned on each evening at dusk. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
Two Austrian tourists have their picture taken in front of the Capitol Christmas tree. A few minutes later, a group of school children came by singing, “We pray for Speaker Boehner and a Happy New Year.” (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
The Capitol Christmas tree is not lit until dusk each evening, but tourists are enjoying having their picture taken with the tree and the Capitol in the background day and night.
At the lighting ceremony last Wednesday, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden noted that the 88-foot Engelmann spruce had come from the Colville National Forest in Washington state and had traveled more than 5,000 miles to Washington.
A sign below the tree notes, “Our national forests provide important habitat for wildlife, clean air and water, wood and other products for human use and wild places for recreation and spiritual renewal.”
Giovanni Gaynor, 6, first-grader from Colville, pushed the button to light the tree. The boy, who dreams of becoming a police officer, was named a junior Capitol police officer for the day by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who presided over the ceremony, and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine.
