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O'Christmas Tree! 60-foot Spruce Arrives In Detroit

The holiday season in Detroit is one step closer with the delivery of a giant fir tree. It was already beginning to look like Christmas in Detroit's Campus Martius Park as they lowered the 60-foot, 16,000-pound Norway spruce into place, Wednesday.

If you've ever tried to get your own Christmas tree into the house, set straight and decorated, you'll appreciate the work of John Eagen of Eagen Tree Farm in New York state.

Eagan tells WWJ's Marie Osborne it takes three days to get this 6-story beauty to Campus Martius.

"We have to tie it down now to the anchors, and we'll insert branches in to green it up and make it look perfect. Then, we're gonna put 20,000 lights on it," Eagan said.

It's a trick of the trade -- they do some cosmetic surgery to prepare the tree for its closeup.

Work on decorating the tree is expected to take more than a week. The tree will have about 18,000 lights on three miles of wire.

The official Detroit Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19, just under a week before Thanksgiving.

(Copyright 2010 WWJ Radio.  All Rights Reserved.)

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