By Lindsay Kastner
Contributing Writer
A Wilmington developer and city councilman hope to establish a new holiday tradition in place of the former celebration at what was once known as the “World’s Largest Living Christmas Tree.”
For more than eight decades, Wilmington families marked the holidays with a visit to the large oak tree on the grounds of the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, where festivities included the tree lighting, visits with Santa and choir performances.
But the city halted the public celebration at that tree in 2010, citing safety concerns in the midst of renovations at the treatment plant.
Now developer Gene Merritt and Councilman Charlie Rivenbark want to hold a new tree-lighting celebration at the city’s Legion Stadium, where they hope to plant another large oak tree.
“We would like to plant a big live oak . . . to evoke the old tree,” Merritt said.
The idea was presented to the council last month. Rivenbark said the council is now waiting for a recommendation from the city staff.
“We’ll see what that looks like,” he added.
Merritt and Rivenbark say public response to the idea has been overwhelmingly positive.
The pair plans to raise the funds necessary to pay for the new tree, including running electricity and water lines to the site. To do so, they started a committee through Wilmington City Progress, Inc., a nonprofit run by Merritt.
He estimated those costs could run anywhere from $25,000-$50,000, but said those numbers are no more than a wild guess.
Ongoing maintenance and the costs of any holiday celebrations would be borne by the city.
In June, city staffer Steve Harrell told the council a celebration at Legion Stadium could carry an annual price tag of $3,815-$4,815 plus a one-time cost of $3,500 – $5,000 for a portable Santa house.
The city currently spends $4,709 on a ceremony at Greenfield Lake Park’s Rotary Garden and $2,588 on a separate ceremony downtown, according to the minutes from that meeting.
Merritt and Rivenbark hope to raise money for their proposal by selling mementos made from the wood of the old tree, which is thought to be more than 400 years old but in failing health.
In May, Merritt applied for, and was granted, a permit to take down the old tree, which he said is basically dead.
“It’s really only being held up by a telephone pole in the middle of it,” Merritt said. “I was trying to give it a dignified burial, but it is not my idea to tear it down. I want to make that totally clear.”
Mike McGill, spokesman for the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, said that for safety reasons the utility favors removal of the tree from its property.
“We understand the special place it has for many people in the community, but it’s really not much of a tree anymore,” McGill said.
Once lauded — but never verified — as the world’s largest living Christmas Tree, the old oak tree was estimated to be nearly 100 feet tall at one time. An undated chamber of commerce history of the tree put its limb spread at 210 feet.
But time, hurricanes and ice storms took their toll. By 2009, the tree was just 50 feet tall and 75 feet wide, according to a StarNews article from the time.
Rivenbark said he has fond childhood memories of the old tree and the holiday ceremonies held there.
“It was just a real celebration of Christmas and kind of unique,” he said, adding, “Of course, like people, trees have lifespans.”
In recent years, other ceremonies — including those downtown and at the Rotary Garden — have replaced what was once the city’s signature Christmas event.
But Rivenbark said parking has been an issue at the Rotary Garden event and that the one-night ceremony with an artificial tree downtown doesn’t live up to what he has in mind.
“I would think that it would take precedence over everything,” he said of the Legion Stadium proposal.
Merritt said he’s not concerned about whether a new tree would ever be large enough to lay claim to the world’s largest living Christmas tree title.
“I just want a new Christmas tree so we can re-establish the tradition,” he said.
