Making Statehouse plaza festive: When moving a 40-foot Christmas tree, the wind isn’t your friend

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence (left in bucket) and Mike Buxton of McGuinnis of Tree Service (in crane) get ready to coordinate to cut down the tree in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence (left in bucket) and Mike Buxton of McGuinnis of Tree Service (in crane) get ready to coordinate to cut down the tree in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER photos / Monitor staff

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday.

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence measures down how far to cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence measures down how far to cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist  Roger Lawrence grabs the line from the crane to lift the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist  Roger Lawrence grabs the line from the crane to lift the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist  Roger Lawrence ducks down after he cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist  Roger Lawrence ducks down after he cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence searches for a good spot to cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence searches for a good spot to cut the 40-foot Norway Spruce in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Northbound traffic in downtown in Concord was closed down to accomodate the crane to put up the tree.

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Northbound traffic in downtown in Concord was closed down to accomodate the crane to put up the tree. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Mike Buxton of McGuinnis Tree Service (in crane) brings the freshly-cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Mike Buxton of McGuinnis Tree Service (in crane) brings the freshly-cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staffMike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) brings the freshly-cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staffMike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) brings the freshly-cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence (left in bucket) and Mike Buxton of McGuinnis of Tree Service (in crane) get ready to coordinate to cut down the tree in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord Tree Maintenance Specialist Roger Lawrence (left in bucket) and Mike Buxton of McGuinnis of Tree Service (in crane) get ready to coordinate to cut down the tree in Blossom Hill Cemetery that will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service puts up a safety flag on top of the crane before lifting the Christmas tree into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service puts up a safety flag on top of the crane before lifting the Christmas tree into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) loads the freshly cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) loads the freshly cut tree to a low-bed truck in Blossom Hill Cemetery, which will be the Christmas tree in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

The freshly-cut, 40 foot Norway Spruce is delivered to the State House on a low-bed truck on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

The freshly-cut, 40 foot Norway Spruce is delivered to the State House on a low-bed truck on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) guides the Christmas tree into place in front of the State House on Tuesday.

Mike Buxton of McGuinness Tree Service (in crane) guides the Christmas tree into place in front of the State House on Tuesday. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Concord General Services workers align the 40-foot Norway Spruce into place in front of the State House on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

By DAVID BROOKS

Monitor staff

Published: 11-19-2024 12:39 PM

Modified: 11-19-2024 3:49 PM

Cutting your own Christmas tree is a snap. Unless, that is, it weighs 3,100 pounds, is as wide as a lane of traffic, and nature decided to make the whole process more complicated.

“The wind makes it a little trickier,” said Ryan Rambeau, Concord tree supervisor, during Tuesday morning’s removal of a 40-foot Norway spruce from Blossom Hill Cemetery. The tree – actually the top two-thirds of a 60-foot tree – was lifted by crane and taken to the Statehouse plaza where it was installed as this year’s city Christmas tree, a process that took longer than expected because of the wind.

Concord has long provided these trees for the holidays, including others from the huge Blossom Hill Cemetery. The roots of this spruce were growing into nearby plots and it would have had to be removed at some point anyway.

The process took the entire morning. It required a four-axle mobile crane capable of lifting 100 tons from McGuinness Tree Service, a bucket truck from Concord General Services, and a 40-foot lowbed trailer from F.L. Merrill Construction.

Roger Lawrence, tree maintenance specialist for the city, went up in the bucket and dropped a weighted measuring tap to find where to cut, 40 feet down from the top. Then he secured a hooked loop attached to the crane’s 150-foot arm, lowered the bucket to roughly 20 feet off the ground and went to work with the chainsaw.

“I was going to climb it, but with the wind it was safer to use the truck,” he said.

Mike Buxton of McGinnis Tree Service said regulations require crane work to shut down when the wind hits 30 mph. It never got that breezy on Tuesday but the gusts were strong enough to send dangling lines swinging, slowing the process.

Once cut, the tree was laid down on the trailer and secured, with the 20-foot branches hanging out on each side.

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“We’re trying to tuck everything in,” said Ryan Rambeau, the city’s tree supervisor.

Then came the slow drive 1 ½ miles to the Statehouse plaza – not much of a trip, which was fine with Rambeau. “I want short drives,” he commented.

The tree was about 17 inches in diameter at the cut, just enough to fit into the 4-foot-deep hole in the plaza created for these trees. Hinged metal wedges secure the trunk in the hole and the tree has four guy wires attached to the plaza arch and poles to provide stability against those pesky winds.

“A lot of stuff would have  to go wrong for it to fall,” said Rambeau.