Big crowd welcomes the People's Tree: Capitol Christmas Tree Visits Columbia Falls

It was a full evening for the sizable crowd at Columbia Falls' Discovery Square late today, where the First Best Place Task Force and the Columbia Falls Chamber organized a celebration of the arrival of the 2008 Capitol Christmas Tree.

Your agenda for the evening looked something like this: Sign the banners on the 2008 Capitol Christmas Tree, peek through the window at the tree mounted on the huge trailer, listen to music from the Big Fish, eat Truby's pizza, drink coffee from the Cowgirls, participate in a flag raising officiated by the Civil Air Patrol, listen to the brass section of the Columbians, check out Jack Gladstone's new music written for today's event, dedicate the new Columbia Falls permanent Christmas tree as a thanks to Ron Buentemeier, check out the official CFalls ornament, gander at a 50+ year old iron lung being shown off by the Rotary (who are raising funds to match a Gates Foundation grant so they can finish off polio in the last four countries) and (whew) start thinking about your Christmas list.

Night of Lights is just around the corner (December 5th)...