Forest Service to Wyoming: Make More Ornaments

The U.S. Forest Service is asking Wyoming to get out its glitter and glue and make more Christmas tree ornaments.

Friday is the formal deadline for Wyoming residents to send in handmade ornaments to decorate this year's U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, a 67-foot Engelmann spruce from Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming.

The tree will need 5,000 ornaments. Fewer than 1,000 have been turned in so far.

With slightly more than 500,000 people, Wyoming has the smallest population of any state. That means a large share of people here are needed to make ornaments.

Surely Wyoming is up to the challenge, tree program and Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Cernicek said Tuesday.

"The pride that Wyoming has is huge, so I know that putting out the call, we're going to get a great response," Cernicek said. "I know that the ornaments we do get are going to be really heartfelt, handmade ornaments that really mean something."

The deadline isn't a rigid one. While the Forest Service would like to have ornaments in hand now, forest employees will begin packing up ornaments next week.

Ornaments received next week still might make it onto the truck bound for Washington, D.C., where the tree will be displayed on the Capitol's lawn. Even after that, ornaments will be collected during the tree's two-week journey around the state.

"I'm a good packer," Cernicek said. "We'll get them squirreled in. We've got a semi going with us; we ought to be able to find room."

The tree is scheduled to be cut down Nov. 6 and loaded onto a truck for a cross-country tour. Nearby Jackson will be the first stop.

The tree will pass through just about every town and city in Wyoming before heading eastward to Washington, D.C.

Besides the 5,000 ornaments Bridger-Teton National Forest hopes to collect for the big, 83-year-old spruce, another 1,000 ornaments are needed for 75 smaller trees to be displayed in federal offices around the capital.

Not just any ornaments will do for the big tree, which will have the theme "Forever West." They're supposed to be large — 9 to 12 inches, so they're visible from a distance — and made to withstand three weeks of wintry weather.

Cernicek said people outside Wyoming may contribute ornaments and even a palm tree ornament from Florida wouldn't be rejected — just maybe not hung in front.

An ornament-making open house is planned at the Historic Governors' Mansion in downtown Cheyenne on Saturday. The Wyoming Arts Council, meanwhile, is planning a staff ornament-making session and is asking artists and schools to make ornaments, said council manager Rita Basom.

"I think if we send out the call and let people know there's really a need and ask for their help, hopefully we can help out," Basom said.