There was a lot of commotion at Bryan and Debby McMahan’s West Dundee home early Friday morning when crews set up a towering crane to take down a 33-foot blue spruce that’s been on their property since 2005.
The tree’s new home for the next few weeks will be downtown Elgin’s newly renovated DuPage Court, where it will serve as the city’s official — and first — live holiday tree.
“Elgin is special to us,” said Debby McMahan, an Elgin native and 20-year Elgin Fire Department firefighter. “It’s nice to know it’s going somewhere that has meaning to us.”
The couple moved into their Chateau Bluff Lane home in 2019, where the tree had been planted shortly after the house’s construction, Bryan McMahan said.
“It’s a gorgeous tree,” said McMahan, who retired from the fire department in 2019 after 30 years. “We’re really bummed it has to come down, but very blessed that Elgin liked it and will give it a second life so everyone can enjoy it.”
The tree was encroaching into a recently sold neighboring lot so they had no choice but to cut it down, he said. When their landscaping contractor suggested some community or organization might want it for a holiday decoration, they started searching and found Chicago and Elgin were both seeking a tree.
“Our tree was way too small for Chicago, but Elgin liked it and they picked us,” McMahan said.
BrightView Landscape Development started preparing the tree earlier this week by wrapping it from the inside out so it would fit onto their truck, company manager Dennis Pfaff said. The Long Grove company has been used to transport Chicago’s holiday tree for the last 15 years, he said.
It took most of the day Friday to get the spruce to DuPage Court, where it was put into place about 1 p.m. to cheers from people outside grabbing lunch. South Grove Avenue was closed for part of the day to accommodate the crane needed to get the tree into a stand.
This is the first time Elgin is putting up a live tree.
“We thought it would be a really awesome initiative to pursue for the city of Elgin,” said Chris Holling, special events coordinator. Elgin usually uses a faux tree, but “we thought let’s really try to elevate the beauty of the downtown area by having a live tree this year,” he said.
It will help draw attention to the courtyard, which underwent an extensive renovation earlier this year, he said. “We look forward to it being the backdrop for a lot of holiday celebrations,” Holling said.
City crews will decorate the spruce next week in advance of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin’s Holly Days and Small Business Saturday on Saturday, Nov. 30. The day includes the Holiday Cheers Beverage Crawl, a pop-up market and other activities.
The lights will be turned on at 5 p.m. in a ceremony to be attended by Santa, Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain and members of the Elgin Cty Council.
After the holidays, it will be chopped up and taken to Lords Park Zoo, where it will be used for compost and as natural vegetation for the animals, officials said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
