Mansion trees arrive for holiday weekend, tours

Crews from the Missouri Department of Conservation and Facilities Management delivered and set up several evergreen trees in November 2017 for display both inside and outside the Missouri Governor's Mansion. Facilities Management's Raleigh Nott was in the bucket truck to assist co-workers on the ground as they start to stretch the lights around the base of the tree.
Crews from the Missouri Department of Conservation and Facilities Management delivered and set up several evergreen trees in November 2017 for display both inside and outside the Missouri Governor's Mansion. Facilities Management's Raleigh Nott was in the bucket truck to assist co-workers on the ground as they start to stretch the lights around the base of the tree.

Missouri Department of Conservation crews put up the Christmas tree Monday morning outside the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City.

This year's tree came from Rock and Angela Schallers in Canton, which is in Lewis County. It's a 30-foot Norway spruce that had grown too large for their backyard.

Each year, MDC does a public search for the governor's tree, asking landowners, homeowners, businesses and communities that might have a candidate tree to contact the department.

To qualify, the tree must be an eastern red cedar, Norway spruce or white pine in the 30- to 40-foot height range.

Five additional 7-foot white pines decorate the mansion's first floor. A 10-foot white pine and 18-foot Norway spruce for the staircase complete the indoor decorations provided by Pea Ridge Forest, a Christmas tree farm and wholesale nursery near Hermann, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The annual tree lighting is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Friday. The Jefferson City High School Choir will sing outside the mansion before the lighting ceremony from 6-6:20 p.m., followed by the Helias High School Choir on the mansion's Grand Staircase from 6:20-6:45 p.m. Other choir performances will include School of the Osage from 6:50-7:15 p.m., University of Missouri S&T from 7:20-7:50 p.m. and Missouri Valley College from 7:55-8:25 p.m.

Public tours of the decorated mansion will begin after the lighting ceremony and last until 9 p.m., then will be held again from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, when the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City will perform on the Grand Staircase.

Friday's tours at the Governor's Mansion will coincide with downtown Jefferson City's annual Living Windows, scheduled from 6-9 p.m.

Volunteer docents will be on hand during the tours to describe historical features throughout the mansion.