| 117th Year, 15th Issue | Thursday, November 17, 2005 | Sparta, North Carolina |
United States Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) and North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler will speak in front of the Alleghany County Courthouse in Sparta at 1 p.m. Nov. 25, in a ceremony dispatching Christmas trees from Alleghany bound for the White House. In addition, the event will serve to present the 2005 community Christmas tree that will stand on the Courthouse lawn. Earl, Betsy, Meg and Buddy Deal of Smokey Holler Tree Farm in Laurel Springs are providing the Christmas trees to the White House.
The Deals earned the honor of supplying the Christmas trees to the White House when one of their trees won the National Tree Contest and the Deals were named the Grand Champions by the National Christmas Tree Association at its convention in Lake Harmony, Penn.
In addition to donating the trees for the White House, the Deals also are donating a community tree for display on the Courthouse lawn in Sparta.
The tree will be in place and ready to be lighted in time for the annual Christmas Parade, which will be held at 2 p.m. the following day, Saturday. A lighting ceremony will follow the parade at dusk.
“The Deals have brought a lot of attention to the importance of Christmas tree farming to the local economy,” said Bob Bamberg, executive director of the Alleghany Chamber of Commerce. “We want to give the White House trees a proper send off and we want to initiate the tradition of displaying a community tree on the Courthouse lawn in the center of town for the Christmas season.”
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture is providing a
refrigerated truck to transport three White House trees to Washington,
D.C. One each will be displayed in the Blue Room, the Oval Office and
President George Walker Bush’s private quarters.
|
Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back |