O Christmas Tree: Evansville's official tree, biggest yet, lit for the season

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Kenny and Jeanne Marie Mesker watched with glee as the City of Evansville's tree lit up casting a cool LED glow on the front of the Civic Center Thursday night.

Mesker and his wife have driven by that same tree for a couple decades. They'd planted it near the driveway of their West Side Evansville home in the 1990s. They never expected the Norway Spruce would get that big though.

When it was chopped down last week to become the city's official Christmas tree, it measured in at 36-foot tall and 30-foot wide and weighed over 4,000 pounds.

It's the biggest tree the city has ever had. They even had to purchase additional lights to ensure the tree was properly saturated with twinkling lights. 

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Mesker said it was a pleasure to make the donation to the city and felt pretty special to be able to make the contribution to the city's official holiday celebration. The tree lighting ceremony Thursday included a performance by North High School Varsity Choir and welcome remarks from Mayor Lloyd Winnecke before the countdown.

In addition to being the biggest tree ever with the most lights ever, the city said it was one of the biggest crowds they've had for the lighting ceremonies.

The tree has 25,000 lights donated by Advanced Network and Computer Services and is topped with a lighted “e” signifying everyone is welcome, city officials said.

The Christmas tree will remain on display in front of the Civic Center building through the holiday season and will be removed sometime after Jan. 1.