The Pantego tower tree is a Christmas tradition unlike any other
PANTEGO, TX - Putting up the Christmas tree is a family tradition for so many, but what if you had to do it 180 feet in the air in winds of 40 miles an hour? That's how it happens in the small town of Pantego, near Arlington.
The public works department spends several hours using a pulley system to get a 12-foot tree from the ground to the top of the water tower. "The climb's easy," says Dale Alexander, the public works director. "It's installing the tree once you get up there."
Alexander and two workers climb up a ladder carrying a rope that they toss down to the crew on the ground. Workers fasten one end to a front-end loader and the other to everything that needs to fly: the tree, tools, base, and lights. "We've done it for so long, they know which piece and when to send it, so as soon as they're sending them, we start building immediately," said Alexander.
The temperature is in the mid-fifties on the ground. Alexander said the weather is a little worse up high, making every move a little more challenging. "When the wind's blowing, it tries to blow everything out of your hands."
After carefully assembling the tree, adding the lights, and topping it with a two-foot-wide snowflake, it's time to wrap the railing with colored bulbs. The whole process took about four hours this year. In the end, the guys up top celebrate with a selfie before packing up the supplies and making the climb down.
Another installation in the books, the tower tree in place for another holiday season.
Alexander says it will stay up until sometime in mid-January. As far as he knows, Pantego is the only place to put a tree on top of its water tower, but he said another city has called him asking for advice on how to do it.
