By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — Like a proud parent following her child in a parade, Marie Oliver walked nearly two miles Tuesday morning behind a flatbed truck ferrying the town Christmas tree from her yard on Ralph Road to Danvers Square.
She carried a digital camera to record the Forestry Division crew as it cut down the approximately 40-foot white fir, chopped off 10 feet from its massive trunk, then loaded it on the truck.
The arrival of the tree is a ritual that takes place each year in mid-November. The last two trees were hoisted from a home on Carolyn Drive, not far from the Department of Public Works yard on Hobart Street.
This year, it came from Marie and Wayne Oliver's yard just off Route 114, not far from Peabody.
Oliver said the town asked if she would be willing to donate the tree. She was glad to see it go because it had grown too big for her yard.
At 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dave Ambrose, Brian Richard and Arthur Balser arrived, along with an Electric Light Division crew to make sure the tree would clear any wires. Oliver said she had coffee and doughnuts waiting for the crew.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
