At 39 feet, the tree was a little too tall for the Capitol building and was trimmed to about 30 feet. Katie Thoresen photo.

By Katie Thoresen | WXPR

RHINELANDER – It’s not unusual for the Burke family to harvest a Christmas tree from their own property. They would sometimes plant ones just for that purpose.

But the tree that was cut down Tuesday morning was a bit different than the one’s Rick Burke usually goes for. It grew wild and it grew tall, towering at 39 feet.

“That grew on its own, and the fact that it kind of grew out in the open allowed it to have a nice, symmetrical figure to it. Otherwise, they don’t tend to have that nice shape,” said Burke.

The Burke’s have lived on the property since 1977. Over the years, Burke tried to give away the tree to some other families.

“Years ago, when it was a smaller tree, because it was getting to be a really nice tree. I figured if somebody who had a cathedral ceiling, it would work great, but it eventually got too big for the cathedral ceilings,” said Burke.

But this year, Burke finally got a taker: the Wisconsin State Capitol.

After seeing last year’s Capitol Holiday Tree, which also came from Rhinelander, Burke decided to reach out and offer his tree.

“I didn’t really think any more of it until a couple of months later I got an email from the superintendent of buildings and grounds in Madison. His name is Darren Smith, and he says, ‘I’d like to see a picture of the tree.’ So, I sent him a picture, and he says, ‘Well, I’m going to come up and look at it in August’, and the rest is history,” said Burke.

Ponsse and the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association came out Tuesday morning to cut down the tree and carefully load it onto a trailer that will be headed to Madison.

It was a sight that brought the neighborhood out.

“I was rather surprised, and that’s kind of nice. There’s some neighbors that haven’t even met each other before, so that kind of brought the neighborhood together,” said Burke.

The tree will be decorated in the Capitol and available for viewing through the holiday season.

Burke plans to be there for the tree lighting on Dec. 5.

The theme of the 2024 Wisconsin State Capitol holiday tree is “125 Years of Wisconsin’s State Parks.”