The Christmas tree on the Downtown Square is decorated in matte silver ornaments.

The City of Tyler Parks and Recreation team on Monday night installed a 30-foot artificial Christmas tree that stood tall for residents to see Tuesday morning on the downtown square.

“It’s a tradition to put a tree on the square. We want to make sure that it’s a festive time of the year, we want to make sure our (residents) are happy. They expect a tree … a beautiful tree,” said Leanne Robinette, Tyler Parks and Recreation director. “When our tourists come into town, they want to come downtown, visit the square, and they want a beautiful Christmas tree, too.”

The tree is a holiday staple during late fall and winter for residents and visitors to admire, take pictures of, and create lasting memories. This year, city officials opted for an artificial tree instead of a live tree for numerous reasons, Robinette said.

It’s more cost-efficient, labor-efficient, and maintenance-efficient and can be used yearly, she said.

A live tree would take weeks to pick out and require a police escort and trailer rental to deliver. An artificial Christmas tree is a one-time investment that can be easily transported and installed, maintains vibrancy, and is durable enough to withstand outdoor conditions and repeated use without wilting or shedding needles, Robinette said.

“We won’t have to continuously replace the tree, which reduces the maintenance … which means that our staff can concentrate on what they need to be concentrating on, which is our 28 parks, all of our athletic facilities and our cemeteries,” Robinette said.

She said it took about three and a half hours to put the tree together and one day to decorate and apply final touches. The city expects to utilize the $44,000 pre-lit Christmas tree for 10 to 20 years.

“Aesthetically, it’s a beautiful tree, and we wanted to make sure that it lives up to the expectations of our citizens, what they have asked for, and what they want to see on the square,” she said.

Parks and recs staff individually placed 1,500 silver and gold ornaments on Tuesday and a 5-foot starburst topper, bringing the entire tree to a whopping 35 feet tall – one of the city’s largest to date. Silver and gold accents were chosen to create a subtle, traditional and cohesive look downtown, Robinette said. A fence around the tree’s base includes red and green pops of color.

“We have received a lot of great feedback about how beautiful the tree is,” she said. “If you look at the tree, it is stunning. When we turned on all the lights (Monday night) night and got it up, we all were in awe at how beautiful it looked.”

Robinette invites the community to join city officials at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5 for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony held in the downtown square. There will be a brief program including remarks by Mayor Don Warren and the 2024 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Miracle Child, 4-year-old River Hardy, will light the tree.