Great Tree rises to the occasion

Heavy lifting done, decorating starts

By AIXA M. PASCUAL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the past nine years, Vincent Simpson has brought to Atlanta its most celebrated Christmas tree shortly after it's cut.

Every year, he drives a flatbed to somewhere in Georgia to pick up the Great Tree. This year, his 10th, he drove to Franklin, N.C., a few miles off the Georgia border, to get the 70-foot white pine tree.

"Everything went good," said Simpson, 51, as he waited for the 14,500-pound tree to be anchored with cables on the roof of Macy's at Lenox Square mall at about 2 p.m. Sunday. The lush, verdant tree, which was cut Thursday morning, had been erected by noon.

"I have to do this every year," Simpson said. "It's exciting. It's fun."

The hoisting of the massive, needled pine tree in early November is the prelude to an annual rite of passage — the lighting of the Great Tree — that heralds the beginning of the holidays in Atlanta on Thanksgiving night. The tradition began at the downtown Rich's store in 1948. Although the location has changed and the Rich's name disappeared earlier this year after 138 years in Atlanta, the holiday tree tradition continues.

"It helps everybody get in the holiday spirit," said Trella Brinkley, a barista at the Starbucks inside Macy's. "I didn't even know it was coming today. It was a surprise for us."

The lifting of the tree is fairly uneventful, but last year things didn't go as planned. When the 72-foot Georgia white pine was being lifted by a crane on Nov. 14, 2004, the tree snapped in two. Simpson, who had gone to pick it up a few days before, said it had been raining when the tree was cut.

"It was real wet, and the tree was weak," he said.

A Macy's representative couldn't say why the tree snapped. Another tree was hoisted days later.

This year, they used a longer pole and added more cables to tie the tree so it wouldn't snap. It took about an hour to put it up, said Simpson, who works for Superior Rigging & Erecting Co. The tree went up crowned with a huge white and gold star.

"It came down easily and went up beautifully," said Marla Shavin, a public relations manager for Macy's. "It was flawless."

Over the next 10 days, a crew of eight people will decorate the tree with 1,200 basketball-sized metallic ornaments, 50 flashing strobe lights, 400 internally lit ornaments and 4,000 11-watt bulbs. This year, 125 snowflakes and 125 red stars will be added, according to Macy's.

Like every year since 1948, when the original Rich's department store was located downtown, the holiday tree will be lighted on Thanksgiving night. This year, for the second time, the Radio City Rockettes will be featured at the lighting at 7 p.m. Nov. 24. More than 60,000 people are expected to attend, according to Macy's.

To some, the lighting of the tree stirs memories of times gone by. Shirley Bell, a perfume vendor at Macy's, used to go downtown to Rich's for the Christmas tree lighting when she was growing up in Atlanta.

"It was a wonderful memory," she said. "When the tree is lit up, it's absolutely magical."

She has now been away for 10 years and can't wait for this year's tree lighting.

"Seeing the tree reminds me of home," said Bell, who also used to ride the Pink Pig along the ceiling of the downtown Rich's store. "It's what Atlanta is about, everyone coming together. ... I'm so happy it's still here."