Elgin Woman's Blue Spruce Selected As Chicago Christmas Tree
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Elgin woman's persistence has paid off, as the Blue Spruce outside her house has been chosen to be Chicago's official Christmas tree for this year.
WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports the 57-foot tall tree on Donna Atkinson's property in Elgin dwarfs her tiny one-story house, so she figured donating it to the city of Chicago would be the perfect inexpensive way to remove it.
"Four years ago, I saw the ad in the paper to submit into the contest, and I submitted," she said. "They really liked my tree, but I wasn't in the running."
Every year since, she's tried to win the city's Christmas Tree contest, until she finally was chosen last week.
Podcast
The tree will grace Daley Plaza, where crews already have begun setting up this year's Christkindlmarket.
The city will cut down the tree on Thursday, and take it to Daley Plaza on Friday. It will be strung with Christmas lights ahead of the official lighting ceremony on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
"We're all excited. All my friends and stuff, we're ready to go down there and have some fun," Atkinson said.
Her tree was chosen from among more than 80 submissions to this year's contest.
