PACKING UP THE TREE UNTIL NEXT YEAR

Jacksonville's Financial News & Daily Record

01/13/2009

by Max Marbut - Staff Writer

Something caused winter to return to Jacksonville for the beginning of the work week. Maybe it was a southerly dip in the jet stream that poured an Arctic blast into North Florida.

On the other hand, it might have been the arrival of the crew from Winterland, Inc. who arrived to disassemble the Christmas tree at the Landing.

This year’s display was a break from tradition that made the annual holiday celebration much “greener� than in previous years when a century-old tree was cut down in North Carolina and then trucked to Jacksonville. This year an artificial tree with thousands of LED lights debuted in the courtyard at the Landing.

Winterland, Inc. is based in Marion, Ind. and each year supervises more than two dozen displays that are custom-installed and then removed after the holiday season is over. The company also manufactures trees and other decorations that are shipped all over the world.

“We bring in our crews every September and then we work on trees and other displays through February,� said Kim Hatch, Winterland’s operations and warehouse manager.

Hatch said when he retired from the U. S. navy, he got a job with a company in Indiana that provided injection-molded parts for the automotive industry. When the company went bankrupt, Winterland owner David Fred visited the shop to bid on some equipment that was for sale. He and Hatch met and pretty soon, Hatch was on the road building and then taking down Christmas trees and other seasonal displays.

“I think it’s a really neat job. We get to travel all over the country building things that make people happy,� said Hatch.

Duane Groet is Winterland’s general manager and was also part of the crew that was at the Landing Monday. He too met Winterland’s owner and eventually merged his Iowa landscape company with the decorator. He said having the holiday display side of the business keeps his crews working when the landscape business shuts down each year.

“Winterland also supplies decorations to landscape companies that do smaller displays for their clients,� said Groet. He added the company has installed displays and shipped decorations to every state in America except Alaska and also has an international operation.

“We’ve been to Hawaii and Australia to install decorations and this year we had a crew in the Middle East and another that installed a 100-foot tall tree on top of a bank in Venezuela.

�It’s a fun job and always interesting. We get to travel all over and meet new people every year,� said Groet.

Having a sustainable tree also worked out well for the Landing, said Public Relations Director Rachel Nudge. The frame, LED lights and branches of the tree have been packed into boxes and will be stored until November when it will again be assembled in the courtyard.

She said there was some concern that people might not accept an artificial tree replacing a real one, but as it turned out, the hourly light shows were a big hit.

“We didn’t have a single negative comment. Hundreds of people would go to the courtyard every hour to see the lights.

“And we’re all more conscious of the environment these days. It just doesn’t make sense to cut down a living tree that’s more than 100 years old. We couldn’t even recycle the trees after Christmas because it would take until August to untangle all the lights, so the whole thing ended up in the landfill,� said Nudge.

Another advantage to the high-tech tree became apparent when the JEA bill arrived at the Landing. The LED lights used far less electricity than incandescent lamps have each year.

Based on guest response, environmental issues and cost savings, “The new tree was a complete success as far as we’re concerned,� said Nudge.

Photos by Max Marbut