Christmas tree returns to Minnesota State Capitol for holiday season

Christmas tree returns to Minnesota State Capitol

Crews installed a 17-foot Fraser fir in the Minnesota State Capitol rotunda Tuesday morning--the first time a tree has been up during the holiday season in six years.

Crews carry Christmas tree into Minnesota State Capitol

Crews carried in a 17-foot Christmas tree to the Minnesota State Capitol after a 90-mile journey from Happy Land Tree Farms in Sandstone, Minnesota.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Christmas tree now stands in the Minnesota State Capitol for the first time in six years, a hiatus that complicated Tuesday morning’s delivery in an unusual way.

For about 20 minutes, state workers battled a rusty bolt in the Capitol’s little-used tree stand. Eventually, they put a screwdriver in its place to temporarily hold the stand in place and allow the delivery to take place.

Christmas tree back at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda

A Christmas tree back at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda for the first time since 2013.

The 17-foot Fraser fir from Happy Land Tree Farms in Sandstone is the first tree displayed in the rotunda since the Capitol restoration earlier this decade. Happy Land won the honor after being awarded the winner of a tree competition at this year’s Minnesota State Fair.

“It’s a privilege to be able to put a tree in the Capitol,” said Robert Wellnitz, who drove the tree 90 miles from Sandstone to the Capitol on Tuesday morning.