A beautiful 21-foot Leyland Cypress tree, generously donated by Merket Christmas Tree Farm in Beckville, Texas, was erected on Monday at the future site of The Lady Bird Garden, just west of the renovated Hotel Marshall.

Christina Anderson, volunteer coordinator of community events for the hotel project and head of design for The Lady Bird Garden, shared that she and Amanda Wynn, chair of the nonprofit Marshall Downtown Development Corporation (MDDC), planned this past summer that The Marshall would erect a large Christmas tree in the spirit of New York’s Rockefeller Center to overlook the Courthouse Square in the area just west of the renovated Hotel Marshall.

Ms. Anderson explained that her husband, Richard, had offered to cut down a 20-foot cedar tree from their pasture to serve as the Christmas tree. But they received word last week that Debbie and Jackie Merket of Merket Christmas Tree Farm in Panola County had graciously offered to donate a 21-foot Leyland Cypress tree.