Tom would reuse the displays he’d made for various professional organizations’ holiday events. “The gifts I did right away because the tree had missing limbs, so I had to put some boxes in,” he said.
“They asked me a big dinner at the Pacific Stock Exchange, ‘make some big red ribbons for us’ they said. So I made those and they had some holes in them but whatever. And then I started doing the presents and the kids loved that.” I used those to cover where the poor tree didn’t have limbs. “Everyone got after me about doing it, it was really my old straight friends who’d come by and they’re the ones who really got after me about it,” Tom said. “After I realized what an impact that it really had, then it really took a life of it’s own.”īeing on a ridiculously steep incline, the humongous display presents major technical challenges. “We’ve certainly had problems with the weather,” Tom said. “We have all types of rods that go down to the concrete retaining walls to support the tree and hold everything in place.
We started a month ago getting the structural steel ready.
