White Plains Goes Green for the Holidays

• Correction: A previous versison of this story had a picture of the wrong tree.

The City of White Plains is going green this year for the holidays. A live 22-foot Norway spruce will be planted, replacing the usual cut-down holiday tree displayed annually in Tibbits Park for the holidays.

This year’s tree was planted in the park on Nov. 29, and will grow approximately one-foot per year. 

Prior to 2011, the City would put out an ad seeking donations for a tree. Previous trees came from White Plains and many from Paterno Estate in Armonk in the 1950s. Members of the White Plains Department of Recreation and Parks or Department or Department of Public Works would select a tree, making sure it was suitable—and no one was just trying to pawn it off a dying tree from their yard. 

Last year’s tree came from a family in Putnam Valley, and cost a total of  $5,000 to wrap up the tree, truck it down the Taconic Parkway via police escort, put the tree up, and restore the property where it came from.

This year, Mayor Tom Roach requested that bids be for a live tree. The low bid came from Simply the Best, which owns a nursery in Scarsdale. The DPW selected a tree, which originated from a farm in Woodhall, NY. The tree was dug up, the roots balled up in burlap and trucked on a flatbed to White Plains. The total cost for, to transport and plant the tree was $4,200.

The tree will be used each year at the City’s annual tree lighting ceremony, taking place this year on Sunday, Dec. 4 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Tibbits Park at North Broadway and Main Street. Local businesses like , and are helping to sponsor the event. 

The tree and entire park will be decorated in LED lights. The City expects to save 12,000 kilowatts and $1,500 over the 45-day holiday season by using the LED lights. The lights also last about three years, instead of one. 

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