Ever Green
Grounds supervisor David DiBenedetto shares some tidbits about the giant fir that adorns the Green each year during the holiday season.
Grounds supervisor David DiBenedetto shares some tidbits about the giant fir that adorns the Green each year during the holiday season.
STUFF HAPPENS
One time in the late 1990s
after the tree was set up, it looked
like “a heart attack waiting to
happen,” according to former
grounds chief Bob Thebodo. After
the top half of the Colorado blue
spruce collapsed, he found another
tree donor, lined up a crane and had
the replacement ready in time for
the lighting ceremony all in less
than 24 hours.
NEW TRADITION
Past trees were donated
by area property owners until 2012,
when the College started to
purchase trees from D’Aiello’s
Vermont Tree Farm in Canaan. The
farm specializes in jumbo
specimens. College reps have
already tagged several trees there
for use over the next
few years.
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
College elves—electricians,
that is—string 1,200
multi-colored LED lights
throughout the tree.
They’re illuminated from
4 p.m. to 8 a.m.
A CHRISTMAS SECRET
DiBenedetto won’t disclose
the cost of the tree or the cost to
have a local fence company
bore a hole five feet deep or
what the College pays for
the crane used to place the
tree in the hole.
TALL TIMBER
Dartmouth looks for a
spruce or fir that is 35 to
40 feet tall, with no
missing branches and
a pleasant overall
shape.
A LITTLE TO THE LEFT...
Cables are deployed to
keep the tree upright
and stable.
OUT WITH THE OLD
Once the tree is removed
it is unceremoniously
shredded and the
remains are composted.
