How are thy leaves
so verdant!
Idaho donates Christmas tree
to nation’s Capitol
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Holy Christmas Tree! When the 73-year-old,
70-foot Englemann spruce—the Capitol Holiday Tree—was hauled into Ketchum, it
was escorted by dozens of Harley Davidson riders in full leathers, including
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.
Idaho’s Christmas gift to the nation had
been cut last week along the Middle Fork of the Payette River in the Boise
National Forest.
Once in front of Sturtevant’s, which
donated its parking lot for the festivities, the long flatbed truck driven by
Jack Sherwood of Jack Buell Trucking in St. Maries, was parked ready for the
festivities.
Bob Nero, president of the Chamber of
Commerce’s Board of Directors, Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon and Sun Valley Mayor Dave
Wilson made short speeches, followed by words from Kempthorne. The Wood River
High School choir entertained by singing carols. Nero’s three children presented
a poster to the governor.
Sherwood, who normally hauls flatbed
trailers for heavy equipment, said his employer is in the logging and timber
industry primarily. The company donated the truck and Sherwood’s services for
the entire trip east, as well as two additional trucks and drivers to take the
Holiday Tree ornaments and 80 companion trees back east. After dropping off the
tree in Washington, D.C., Sherwood will haul some of the support vehicles back
to St. Maries, where he lives.
Other than the 53 stops the tree and
support group will make in Idaho, they will stop on the trip across the country
in Bozeman, Mont., Mitchell, S.D., Rochester, Minn., Rockford, Ill., Richmond,
Ind., and Morgantown, W. Va.
The tree weighs 11,000 pounds and is 28
inches at its base. It is enclosed inside a wooden frame, which is itself
enclosed in plastic wrapping. There is a watering system inside to keep the tree
fresh.
Sherwood will drive to the stops in
Southern Idaho, before relinquishing the wheel for a few days to another driver
who’ll do the northern Idaho route.
"I’m going to spend a few days with my
family and then rejoin them in Wallace, where I’ll take over driving to D.C.,"
he said. "My 13-year-old daughter got her first deer, but I still need to get
mine."
Meanwhile, he said, "I’m just taking it
all in. There was a grandmother in Nampa with her granddaughter, and they wanted
to take a picture with the truck. The granddaughter had had two open heart
surgeries and had one more coming up. It’s that kind of stuff that stands out."
Sherwood, who was keeping warm inside the
cab of the truck while snow flurried around his windows, looked straight ahead
as though he were still driving. "We’ve had a wonderful response. It’s Idaho
history. It’s a kick."
The support team that will continue on the
trip includes merchandisers who sell caps, T-shirts, key chains and even spruce
saplings. Public affairs representatives are on for much of the trip, such as
Casey O'Connell who is helping on the southern Idaho portion of the trip. The
escort also includes Forest Service law enforcement officers, a safety officer
and an incident commander, Dean Martens.
What, one wonders, does the latter do
exactly while trailing a tree across country?
"I’m the one who kind of brings it all
together. I kind of orchestrate," said Martens, who normally works at the
Payette National Forest. "We’ve been working on it a year. It’s really coming
together. We’re now making it happen."
Take a gander at what one day looks like
for Sherwood, Martens and the rest of the support team: On Nov. 21 the tree
brigade stops in Post Falls, Spirit Lake, Priest River and Sandpoint. There are
festivities planned for every stop. Some of the support team will leave when
they depart Idaho and others will join up.
"It gives everyone a chance to go along
with the tree," Martens said.
Kempthorne has no plans to travel to any
of the other stops in Idaho, he said. After the festivities he and the other
riders turned their bikes around—the governor’s was borrowed in the valley—and
headed homeward.