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The process for lighting the Sequoia tree takes approximately 20 people.

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We have two men in the basket, two men in the tree.

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We use to climb the tree, but we don't do that anymore.

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We transfer from the basket to the tree now.

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And the process is we have stringed lights, we have a triangular set up that we have up top.

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And we attach six strings of lights to that and there's five of those triangular set ups.

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And we attach those to a big ring on top, satellite, we call it.

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Then after those are attached and we adjust them correctly on the tree, then we top it off with the star.

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And the star has its own cord and everything and all these are LED lights now instead of the incandescents like we used to have years ago.

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That is, we check every bulb at the physical plant on the ground.

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We check all the reels before that

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Then before they go up, we have generators here and we check all the lights again making sure that all the bulbs are tight and everything is functional.

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We've dropped a couple of strings before of lights but nothing with these incandescents, they're all plastic now, they don't break and they're really dependable.

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The tree is approximately a 125-130 feet tall.

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And we bring in a 190 ft crane, and that gives us plenty of room to get on the back side of the tree and front side.

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And to adjust anything or if we have to do any kind of pruning on the tree because the tree has been topped from lightning years ago.

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And so the tree grows out, and we have to, once in a while, we have to prune some of that top out in order to make room for these lights.

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This is something we look forward to.

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I've been involved with the tree lighting preparation since 1989.

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So I always look forward to climbing the tree, being on top

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The view is spectacular up there, especially on a clear day.

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The event happens and then to have the folks here at Monmouth just to enjoy the tree.