he! he! Happy Halloween?
That’s what some might be saying at the Citadel Outlets in Commerce on Wednesday, where a 115-foot white spruce — the largest freshly cut tree in the world — will rise before the mall’s tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 8.
Mall officials compared the giant spruce to several other things to prove how big it really is:
- You can stack seven double-decker buses on top of each other and still have them 10 feet below The top of the tree
- The top of the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel is 25 feet shorter than the tree
- Do you think the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City is huge? The Citadel Outlet tree is 35 feet tall
The mall is known for its early Christmas celebrations, where the tree is put up every year while it’s still fall.
The tree itself made the trip from Mount Shasta over three days to reach the castle on Wednesday, and Sky5 was overhead as it arrived in the area. Some of its very wide branches were cut so that the tree could be placed on a flatbed truck to be carefully transported south.
According to mall officials, the tree was hand-selected by Victor Serrao, owner of Victor’s Christmas Trees, a company described as the only one in the world that specializes in sourcing Christmas trees 40 feet tall and above.
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The 115-foot-tall Christmas tree in the Castle Outlets before being propped up in the middle of the mall. -
The location where the 115-foot-tall Christmas tree will be placed is in the castle’s niches. (Sky 5) -
The tree itself made the trip from Mount Shasta over three days to reach the castle on Wednesday, and Sky5 was overhead as it arrived in the area.
“This annual tradition brings with it countless holiday photo moments, sparkling decor throughout the center, and magical lights and snow displays that transform the shopping destination into a winter wonderland,” mall officials said in a media release.
When installed in the center of the mall, the tree will look “perfect” over the next two weeks, as a thousand branches will be added to consolidate its shape. In addition, more than 18,000 lights will be installed, and 10,000 bows and ribbons will be added to the tree.
The Citadel Outlets Christmas Tree Party is scheduled for November 8 at 5 p.m