GAINESVILLE, Ga. — It’s a Gainesville holiday tradition more than 40 years strong – the lighting of a big holly tree in downtown.
But it stands in the way of plans to build a roundabout, and the Georgia Department of Transportation says the tree has to go.
The holly was planted in 1934 and stands alongside Green Street and E.E. Butler Parkway.
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Every Christmas since 1982, the Gainesville Rotary Club has dressed up the tree with lights, and they’re flipped on at the end of the city’s Christmas parade.
About 10,000 people turn out for the parade every year.
“It’s the shining moment at the end of the parade,” Mike McGraw, the immediate past president of the Rotary Club, told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims.
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“It’s the tradition, it’s the history,” Gainesville mayor Sam Couvillon told Channel 2 Action News. “Gainesville’s growing. We’ve got a lot of exciting things going on, but we still have that small town feel that people want to be a part of.”
McGraw said he has consulted an arborist about moving the tree, but that would be costly – anywhere from $125,000 to $150,000.
“The big issue, of course, the main headwind is cost,” he said. “And we’re hoping that the DOT can throw some money off to the side to help that community. That would be awesome.”
Whether or not that happens, he said, the Rotary will launch a fundraising campaign. McGraw said there are two locations along Green Street where the tree could be moved.
“Our community is going to bond together and we’ll do everything possible to save that tree,” McGraw added.
A spokesperson for GDOT was unavailable Friday to discuss the project, but construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
“This project is proposed to improve safety, reduce the severity and frequency of crashes, and improve operations at the intersections,” GDOT says on the project’s website.
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