In the basement of the Wisconsin State Capitol, anticipation for a holiday tree lighting ceremony runs through the dim hallways.
Ken Rosenberg, the Capitol’s lead tour guide, just finished giving me a tour of the storage rooms where staff organize ornaments sent in from students all over the state to be hung on the holiday tree.
Rosenberg weaves through the Capitol hallways and levels with ease, while I try to absorb as much as I can from this seasoned guide.
He has been in this position for 15 years now, coordinating different staff projects and becoming part of long-running jokes — including the rumor that the dome of the Capitol is removed to place the holiday tree inside the rotunda.
We sit down with Darrin Smith, a facility manager and nine-time coordinator of the holiday tree.
Smith’s office has no windows, but he makes up for that with the sketches, paintings and photos that cover the walls. Scrolls of maps and designs litter his desk, and the three of us sit at a round table with a mini model of the Capitol.
I ask Smith to walk me through how the 30-some-foot holiday tree gets inside the Capitol each year, using the model for reference. Instead, Smith grabs a large printed image of a side door of the building where, each year, a giant tree is hauled inside.
This year, the tree was delivered and set up in the rotunda the week before Thanksgiving. Capitol staff organized student ornaments ahead of the lighting ceremony to ensure that schools from around the state were represented on the tree. Now, visitors to the Capitol can enjoy the tree throughout the holiday season.
“[The tree] seems like a little thing, but I know how important it is, and people travel with their families every year,” Smith says.
A long and precarious process
The timeline of choosing and harvesting a tree for the Capitol is a lengthy one, Smith says.
Capitol facility management doesn’t advertise its search for a tree because it receives enough unsolicited offers from tree farmers and others in Wisconsin.
First, Smith says, staff members review the offers to confirm the trees are of the Balsam fir variety — a tree light enough to move easily. Smith searches for a tree that ranges from 35 to 45 feet before harvest, as it will be cut down to 28 to 32 feet to fit inside the Capitol.
Once Smith has a few options around the state, he’ll take a trip to confirm which tree is ready to harvest.
For this project, facility managers partner with the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, which brings in the volunteer professionals necessary to harvest and transport a tree of its size.
Smith estimates that somewhere between 60 and 100 people are required. “It takes a small army to put the tree together,” Smith says.
Tree farmers in Gillett, a rural town about 40 miles north of Green Bay, provided this year’s Wisconsin State Capitol Holiday Tree.
“Harvesting a tree from a Christmas tree farmer and grower is uncommon for the Capitol,” said Sarah Glitto, the executive director of Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association. “It’s not often the tree comes from an actual tree grower, but, when it does, it means a lot to the farmer.”
This year, those lucky farmers were Dave and Mary Vander Velden. Although they’re now retired from farming, the couple once ran the Whispering Pines Tree Farm in Oconto.
Dave Vander Velden said his goal with this tree was to make sure that other people could appreciate it.
“I’ve cut down a lot of beautiful trees in my lifetime,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If I left the tree out in the field, no one gets to enjoy it.”
Volunteers cut the tree down and wrapped it tightly with netting to prep it for its journey to the Capitol. Once in Madison, the work to get it safely inside the rotunda begins. Contrary to the idea the tree makes its way inside through the top, Capitol staff remove entrance doors to provide volunteers with enough room to walk the tree inside.
In the rotunda, the tree is gently hoisted to an upright position and placed in the stand, which solely supports the tree.
“It seems like a simple process, but it’s a dance,” Smith says.
The heavy lifting — literally and figuratively — started 15 years before Smith ever laid eyes on the tree.
“I have heard by many people around the Capitol that it’s one of the best trees they’ve had in a decade or so,” Glitto said. “I think that’s a true testament of the tender love and care a farmer takes and work that they put into raising a really good tree.”
“It’s our donation to the state,” Vander Velden told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It’s for the people of Wisconsin to decorate and enjoy.”
A season of the Learning Tree
Each year, a theme that aligns with one of the governor’s priorities is chosen for the Holiday Tree. Gov. Tony Evers based this year’s theme on his dedication of 2025 as the Year of the Kid — a statewide initiative to allocate funding toward children.
Evers, with a long history in the Wisconsin school system as a former science teacher, principal, superintendent and state superintendent, has been heavily involved in the holiday tree tradition. Evers produces the official holiday letter to schools, asking students to create ornaments for the tree.
Between 6,000 and 10,000 ornaments are placed on the tree and displayed around the rotunda annually, Rosenberg says. Capitol staff and volunteers braved high ladders with extended hooks to hang each ornament.
In 2024, the state honored the theme of 125 Years of Wisconsin’s State Parks. This year, the Learning Tree recognizes school staff.
The Learning Tree theme honors, “educators, administrators, custodians, school bus drivers, lunch staff and so many others who play a critical role in helping ensure our kids can bring their best and fullest selves to the classroom to learn each and every day,” Evers wrote in a November letter.
The appreciation for these roles are prominent in the ornaments that decorate the tree. Students hand-crafted beaded school buses, tiered crayon pendants, and many, many thank you notes.
Ellie Mason, an eighth grader from John Muir Middle School in Wausau, told people gathered for the lighting ceremony that this theme represents a shared recognition for the commitment educators have.
“It shows that kids matter,” Mason said. “We learn best when adults listen to us and show that they care.”
From now until the tree is removed from the Capitol in January — typically early to the middle of the month — schools coordinate field trips to peruse the ornaments on this year’s Wisconsin State Capitol Holiday Tree.
The Lighting Ceremony
On a cold but sunny Dec. 4, the Wisconsin State Capitol hosted many students, performers, educators and other community members to participate in the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Onlookers gathered above the rotunda, spanning balconies along the second and third floors. Holiday garland decorated the banisters, and a large star, hanging from the dome rafters, sat just above the top of the tree.
Emler Moore Jr., the executive director of Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, opened the ceremony with a note of remembrance and appreciation for his own educational experience.
“This year’s tree is decorated with ornaments that celebrate stories,” Moore Jr. said from a podium on the north side of the gallery.
At the lighting ceremony, children pointed to different areas of the ornament-heavy tree, trying to locate their own piece. Children shrieked with joy when they found an ornament from their school.
After his speech highlighting the theme of the Learning Tree, Moore Jr. welcomed three guests: Mason; Rodney Esser, an 85-year-old custodian for the Middleton-Cross Plains School District who is nicknamed Mr. Peanuts; and Green Bay West High School English teacher Eleanor Hinz-Radue.
Each speaker represented the Learning Tree theme, and they all touched on the importance of providing good learning environments for students, even starting with the cleanliness of school grounds.
Seasoned custodian and stand-in mentor for the students, Mr. Peanuts took to the podium with a flourish. He reminisced on his own visits to the Capitol for Christmas pageants when he was a student.
Mr. Peanuts has now worked at Park Elementary School as a custodian for 60 years. His secret — just being consistently present for students, he said.
Mason said that, from a student perspective, she both noticed and appreciated the support of all school staff.
“When I imagine the Learning Tree, I picture a tree with many branches sticking out in every direction, each one helping me climb a little higher,” Mason said.
Evers wrapped up the speeches by giving shout-outs to all the hard-working school staff around the state.
“I can’t think of a better way to wrap up the Year of the Kid and celebrate the holiday season than
by giving thanks to all those on the front lines who are doing what they do best — and that’s the best for our kids,” Evers told the lighting ceremony crowd.
Then, it was time to begin the countdown.
Evers encouraged Mason to press the lighting button. As the crowd helped count down from three, the La Crosse Central High School band began playing “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” and the tree — with all its lights and ornaments — beamed to life.
The crowd cheered, joining in with the band’s music. Young voices finished out the impromptu karaoke scene and they raced back to the ground floor, eager to continue searching for their ornament.
