DE PERE, Wis. — The spruce tree in front of Neil and Julie Basten’s house has been on the practice squad since just after the turn of the 21st Century.
On Monday, it got the call up to the Green Bay Packers and Lambeau Field.
“We planted this tree 20 years ago. I think it was probably the first thing we put in the yard here,” Neil Basten said. “It just got too big for us to decorate it. We were looking at possibly getting rid of it and we thought, ‘hey, let’s send it to the Packers and let’s share it with everybody in the community.’”
He wrote a letter to the team offering up the tree as part of the Packers’ annual holiday event.
“Actually, the last time I decorated it, I fell off the ladder. I don’t know how I didn’t break my neck or break my ankles or anything,” Neil Basten said with a laugh. “There’s actually still a set of lights up in the top there I couldn’t get off. It’s probably been eight or none years since we’ve decorated it. It’s just time. It’s overtaken the yard, so we just thought, let’s go for it.”
The family planted the tree when it was only six feet tall. It now stands more than 50 feet tall.
For Julie Basten, Monday included mixed emotions as she watched the tree transplanted from the family’s yard to Lambeau Field.
“Bittersweet. It’s part of our family’s history,” she said. “Neil would decorate it and our neighbor across the street just said, ‘I remember Neil out there on his ladder, six-feet tall.’ Now it’s time to say goodbye. It’s sad for me.”
The tree is the centerpiece of the Packers and Festival Foods’ annual Festival of Lights.
The team seeks local tree donations each year, said Sara Short, the assistant director of partnership activations with the Green Bay Packers.
“The tree is a beautiful tree for the holiday season,” she said. “The event is a free community event for everyone to come together. Kids can meet Santa, there’s cookie decorating, and it all culminates in the lighting of the tree.”
The festival takes place Saturday evening, Dec. 7.
And those marooned Christmas lights? They were found as crews were preparing to move the tree on a flatbed truck.
“I think it’s awesome,” Neil Basten said. “I’m a lifelong Packers fan, and I couldn’t think of a better spot for it to go.”