The national Christmas tree came from the Laurel Fork section of Highland County. The red spruce was 82 feet tall as it stood in the woods but 15 feet or so was cut off the bottom before it was flown out by helicopter. It is over 60 feet tall as shown here on display in Monterey on November 3 prior to being wrapped for shipment to Washington. By November 7 it was strapped down on a truck, below, but not yet wrapped in its cocoon for travel. There was a huge sendoff ceremony on the 13th and it left the next day. An ornament contest was held and many of the students in the Highland County schools, as well as other residents, made ornaments to send with the tree. The winning ornament, shown above, was made by Deborah Timberlake. It features three important products of Highland County – sheep, trout, and maple syrup – as well as the Arts Council logo. Students all across the state also made ornaments and every maker’s name was entered in a drawing for the honor of lighting the tree. Out of 11,493 entries Blayne Braden, a Highland first grader, won the lottery and a free trip to Washington for the lighting ceremony on December 9.   Tree photos by John Sweet and ornament photo by Susan Blanchard.

Hiroko Akaike, HHS Band Director, used the photo at left on a Yahoo.com Christmas Card, and included the following message:
“This is my second year teaching music in the Highland County Public schools. My county provided the Capitol Holiday Tree this year. This is the first time the Commonwealth of Virginia has been chosen to provide the tree. My students worked hard to make numerous ornaments for the tree as well as learned songs to perform at the Capitol Holiday Tree Ceremony. I love working with children in this county.”