Holiday tree arrives at Fountain Square

CINCINNATI - The holiday tree arrived at Fountain Square on Saturday morning after traveling more than six hours from an Akron suburb.

Pat and Phyllis O'Conner of Mogadore, Ohio, provided the Norway Spruce that is 65 feet tall. It left northern Ohio around midnight before arriving at the corner of Fifth and Vine streets Saturday morning.

Workers will spend the next several days putting up strands of lights before a 5-foot tall red Macy's star will be placed on top.

"We put approximately 25,000 lights in the tree. 20,000 of them are white. Then we overlay 5,000 multi-color lights in it with about 500 flasher bulbs added in there too," The Christmas Lighting Company's Glenn Scherzinger said.

The process will take approximately three days.

"We weave the lights through all the branches. Then we put little clips on them to help hold them because we are of the windy conditions," Scherzinger said. "It just takes time."

The holiday tree will be the centerpiece for the 2012 Macy's Light Up the Square event that will take place on Friday, Nov. 23 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.