Every year Metro Nashville seeks out a Christmas tree that someone is willing to donate to the city to use during the holiday season.
Ideally, officials look for a tree that a Nashville resident wants to get rid of, whether it be because the tree poses a threat to their home, or simply because they don't want it anymore.
While every year they seem to come up with a tree, a lot of times, they don't find that tree until the last moment.
“It’s very nerve-wracking, we never have one in reserve," Metro Parks horticulturalist Randall Lantz said.
This year, Metro Parks has yet to find the perfect tree, and they're asking for people to reach out if they have a tree they want to donate.
Metro Parks works with NES to safely remove the tree and transport it to Public Square Park where it's on display throughout the holiday season.
In exchange for donating the tree, the tree is removed for free, and Metro Parks offers to replace the tree with a new one, if the owner wants one.
The reason that Metro only gets the trees from the Metro area is because of their partnership with NES.
“They help us transport the tree, set it up, supply the cranes - they’ve been awfully nice to do that for 14, 15 years now," Lantz explained. "With them doing that, they need to stay within their service area. Now their service area goes into part of Rutherford County, I think they even go north in some other counties, but we need to be their service area for them to justify using equipment and their labor to do that.”
So far Metro Parks has looked at numerous trees, and they have some options, but they're hoping a perfect tree will be offered up that they can utilize for the holiday season.
Anyone with a tree between 25 and 40 feet they'd like to donate is encouraged to reach out to Randall Lantz at (615) 862-8400 or by email at Randall.Lantz@nashville.gov. Make sure to leave a street location.
