New Upcycled Tree Debuts on West 76 Country Blvd!
One of Branson’s new Landmark Tree displays this season was created with previously used materials, some holiday imagination and a large dose of Ozark Mountain Christmas ingenuity! The 28’ tall, star-studded tree of lights sitting at the corner of Gretna and W. 76 Country Boulevard in front of the Titanic Museum Attraction was the combined effort of public,nonprofit and private participation that has been many months in the making.
The upcycled Christmas tree has a welded-metal, cone structure that was salvaged from The Grand Palace just before it was razed this summer. The City of Branson donated several of their lighted, shooting star pole displays that could no longer be used due to fewer light poles and many years of use and disrepair. Then the Branson Christmas Coalition agreed to fund the new materials, painting, wiring, lighting and bulbs that would be necessary to turn this trash into a treasure the community could enjoy. It was their vision that Branson could have yet another unique and beautiful tree to add to the area’s growing collection and to enhance “America’s Christmas Tree City” this year.
The Branson Christmas Coalition is a non-profit organization working year-round to grow and enhance the holiday season in the Branson area. Since 2016, becoming famous for Christmas trees has been their focus and this year the area is home to more than 1,500 traditional,live-growing, light strand and unique trees decorated for the holiday season.
Once the materials were assembled, Ripley’s locally based fabrication team went to work. They added six feet to the base of the original cone, taking the structure from 18 to 25 feet. They repaired and repainted the base structure as well as the shooting star displays which also had to be completely rewired and updated with 1,075 C7 LED light bulbs, plus curved slightly to fit the shape of the tree. They designed and built a rotating 3’ star for the top of the tree, taking the tree to a total height of 28’. The cone frame was wrapped in a transparent green film so that it looks good during daytime hours and can be lit from the interior for nighttime dazzle too. Then the shooting star displays had to be a fixed to the frame and the whole tree had to be moved from Ripley’s fabrication shop to the tree’s temporary home in the heart of Branson’s Entertainment District. It is secured in position there with cables connected to two, two-ton concrete blocks in the tree’s interior. The blocks, power connection and traffic management during installation were provided by the City of Branson as well.
Many thanks to the City of Branson and the Titanic Museum attraction for all their help and support. Kuvera Partners, current owners of the property that used to house The Grand Palace and will soon to be home to the Aquarium at the Boardwalk started the project in motion with their contribution. And none of the project would have been possible without the creative and skillful fabrication team at Ripley's. It's this kind of cooperation and collaboration that will make Ozark Mountain Christmas one of the country's most popular holiday travel destinations for many, many years to come.
Click the link here for the complete list of 2019 Landmark Christmas Trees.