GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Tina Pangle says it was a stressful string of days.
“We were worried. We called to check on them and couldn’t get in touch with them,” Pangle said.
Pangle is Gwinnett County’s Recreation Manager. The county was very concerned about some good friends up in Sugar Mountain, North Carolina after Hurricane Helene hit at the end of September.
“They count on us for their business. Their livelihood. Especially now. After Helene hit, they were going to need it more than ever,” Pangle said to Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.
The storm that caused so much destruction and loss of life also hit the state’s Christmas tree industry. North Carolina is the supplier of more than 3 million trees every holiday season.
The trees survived but not the roads to the farms. Gwinnett sent a truck anyway. It was five hours one way including detours, and they picked up the county’s official Christmas tree. It was set in place by a huge crane before sunrise Friday on the grounds of the Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville.
Crews spent most of the morning installing cables to hold it steady and ran the electricity to power it up.
Pangle says it wouldn’t be Christmas without it. The annual Lighting of the Tree ceremony on Thanksgiving night brings thousands of residents.
“37 years lighting this tree on the lawn of the Historic Courthouse. We want to keep a tradition alive,” Tina said.
A crew will start stringing the 20,000 lights on Monday. The job will take at least two weeks.