O Christmas Tree: Local families donate big spruces to cities

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas across the tri-cities as big Christmas trees are being put up for the holiday season.

Two large spruce trees are now standing in downtown Kitchener: One at Gaukel Block, and another in Carl Zehr Square.

The Carl Zehr Square tree was installed on Wednesday.

City of Kitchener arborist, Kevin Hastings, said it’s a Colorado Blue Spruce and estimated it’s between 30 to 35 feet tall.

Local realtor and Kitchener homeowner, Bonnie Bennett, donated the tree.

“When I first purchased my home here, the tree was basically no larger than a shrub. We never put much thought into how big it was going to grow; we hadn’t planted it, the previous owner had,” explained Bennett.

She said they used to decorate the tree out front of their home until it got so big she could no longer put Christmas lights on it.

“For many years, it was a Christmas tree… but once it got taller than the house, we couldn’t do that anymore.”

That sparked the debate of what to do with the tree, and whether to donate it.

“This year, it was starting to touch the front porch… and we thought that was just too big,” said Bennett.

Crews came out to her property on Wednesday and with near Santa’s sleigh-speed, scooped up the tree.

“They were in and out —  I swear it was less than an hour,” said Bennett.

She added that it was quite the spectacle in her neighbourhood, with neighbours stopping in their tracks to watch.

Bennett plans to visit the tree at its new home outside Kitchener City Hall on Thursday.

It isn’t just downtown Kitchener that’s getting in the holiday spirit.

A large Christmas tree was donated by a Cambridge family and was erected outside city hall on Wednesday as well.