CHARLOTTE — Its stature can almost brush the sky, yet, it’s the story behind this year’s Christmas tree at Bank of America Stadium that has many hooked.
The Norwegian Spruce will officially be lit Tuesday evening, following a long road to get to the stadium from western North Carolina.
In areas throughout the southeast, Hurricane Helene changed the landscape this fall.
“The road to get in was washed out, and then the roads out on the highway were washed away as well,” said Marian Hamilton, who owns the property where the tree originally grew.
[ SPECIAL SECTION >> Hurricane Helene stories ]
“Everywhere I looked, I see people a lot worse than me, so [I’m] fortunate,” said Wayne Holden, the co-owner of Sugar Mountain Nursery in Newland.
Holden once served in Vietnam, but now he’s running his landscaping business in Avery County. For years, he’s worked with members of the Panthers organization to procure the stadium tree.
“Well I’ve made 76 revolutions around the sun and this is the worst that I’ve seen,” Holden told Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown. “How tragic could it be that you lose your house, your barn, your horses, your dogs, and you feel fortunate that you didn’t go down the creek with them. And I know these people.”
After Helene, Holden got to work using his own equipment to help repair the roads. Then he continued with his day job.
“We had done trees for [Jerry] Richardson, who owned Spartan Foods at the time before he bought the Panthers, and we furnished him a tree for 27 years,” Holden said. “When he moved to the Panthers, everybody said, ‘Well, when are you going to do the Panthers tree?’”
[ >>Carolina Panthers, Charlotte FC could get new stadium in 2046 ]
Finding the perfect tree of its size required its own process.
“Tree farms only grow trees so big, and we have one farm that specializes, but we only get ten trees from him, and we’re actually doing 23 to 25 trees from 25 to 55-foot. So you have to advertise to people,” Holden said.
It’s how he met Hamilton.
“He just came up one morning, I told my husband, ‘There’s a man in our yard,’” Hamilton said.
“Just decided to drive up the road ... this tree is in my neighborhood. [I] look up, there’s the tree. I said, ‘That’s the Panthers tree,’” Holden said.
He described is as a near “perfect” tree, barring some damage from the hurricane.
“Wayne said they could repair it. They have limbs to go in it, they’ll have to do their magic,” Hamilton told Brown.
It now stands as a welcome wonder in Charlotte, especially now, after the impact the storm had on the Carolinas.
“We’re survivors,” Holden said. “Mountain people survive.”
(VIDEO >> Christmas comeback: Tree raised at Biltmore Estate)
This browser does not support the video element.