Long Beach is dreaming of a green Christmas.
The city is set to unveil nine-solar powered trees as part of the 75th anniversary of “Trees in The Bay,” a 67-piece installation that spans many of its parks, estuaries and shorelines.
The trees decorate the city starting Thanksgiving evening through New Year’s Day.
The switch to sustainable power is part of a slow, donation-driven transition, said Beach Superintendent Cory Forrester. The city eventually wants to convert all of the trees to solar to reduce Long Beach’s yuletide footprint.
Last year, just one tree in Spinnaker Bay was switched to solar.
Trees are replaced every 15 years. Their construction consists of two pontoons, an 8-by-8 lumber base and 2-by-4 timber that frames the 16-foot body. About 300 LED bulbs are strung around it, powered either by an 1,000-foot cable that’s run from shore. The nine solar-powered trees are powered by two panels housed on the platform with a battery and timer.
Each solar set-up costs about $6,000 per tree, Forrester said.
It’s a new twist to a time-worn tradition, one that began in 1949 under the enterprise of then-restaurant owner Don May, who shoved a Christmas tree into the Alamitos Bay by way of a raft.
“Don May was a man who bigod got things done,” wrote Columnist Tim Grobaty in a 2018 Post story. “The so-called (and honorary) Mayor of Belmont Shore, May owned the popular and still-mourned Leilani Hut on Second Street, where you’ll find Legends today. So the tradition he started has held up, and lighted trees have decorated various bodies of water in Long Beach during the Christmas season ever since.”
Today, trees can be spotted in the Colorado and Rainbow Lagoons, as well as in the Naples Canal, Alamitos Bay and in the lakes at Heartwell, Scherer and El Dorado parks.
To learn more about the tree’s history, click here.