Well, maybe not exactly a miracle, but it was pretty cool last Friday when a group of volunteers put the McKinleyville Community Christmas Tree back up after it was toppled by high winds a few days earlier. A call for volunteers went out on the McKinleyville Press Facebook page. One hour later there were more than half a dozen volunteers gathered to put the tree back up.
It turned out to be a much more difficult task than the volunteers first imagined. The tree was heavy and water laden. Raw manpower alone couldn’t lift it.
So a block and tackle system was used to get the tree upright, It took several tries and 45 minutes of work, but the job got done.
Pictured from left are Matt Marak, Wade Smith, Mark Perkins, Erin Mikolai and David Haley. All but Smith are employees of Cabinets by Andy, which sent over a crew with equipment, including power tools to screw the base of the tree back down onto the platform.
There were other volunteers, but I didn’t get all their names.
The tree is a little battered and has a slight Charlie Brown quality to it, but it’s still beautiful. Maybe even a little more beautiful when you think about it.
– Jack
McKinleyville Press Blog 