What holiday decorations go up, must come down.
After the hanging of lights, banners and garlands and the hauling in of a tree - viewed by dozens of choirs and thousands of visitors - most of the items laid out in meticulous detail at the state Capitol will soon return to a basement storage room.
The tear-down is to begin Jan. 1 and must be completed before the legislative session begins Jan. 14, said Alex Reed, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, which maintains the Capitol building and its grounds.
But, Reed said, the 15-20 office workers who will do the cleanup will need only a week.
“We’ll be moving quickly,”he said.
In the past, the secretary of state’s office hired designers and contractors to decorate the Capitol and remove the decorations after the holidays, but this year, the office’s staff took on more of the work.
Secretary of state employees pulled the items out of storage and put up ornaments, and state workers hung lights outside the building.
“Hanging the exterior lights and probably getting the tree in and up are probably the most difficult,” Reed said.
He said the office saved about $12,000 this year by not contracting out the work to hang the exterior lights.
Last year, Bryant-based Fleming Electric was paid $30,392.79 to install and remove the lights, Reed said.
The 23-foot Leyland Cypress tree that reaches up through the Capitol rotunda to the second floor was donated by Tom’s Tree Farm in St. Francis County and was delivered, free of charge, by the Bemis Tree Farm.
Jeremy Bemis, vice president of the farm, said the Capitol tree is typically the largest of its kind that the company delivers each year.
Bemis said the tree’s limbs are tied to fit through the Capitol’s doors, and are trimmed for shape and to fit in the rotunda space.
This year, the secretary of state’s office was assisted in the Capitol decorating by About Vase, a Little Rock flower shop, which was paid $22,668, Reed said.
Phil Cato, a designer at the shop, said eight to nine peopletoiled at the Capitol, unpacking items from the basement, fluffing garlands and putting up ornaments.
Cato said decorating the Capitol is similar to decorating a house, but on a much larger scale.
“We have to use ornaments that are the size of volleyballs and basketballs that would show up,” he said.
Cato speaks fondly of the spectacle of the decorated interior. Between the banners hanging from the upper levels to the many ribbons and wreaths, the designer said everything comes together for something “marvelous.”
“I personally think it’s a beautiful sight,” Cato said. “I just wish more people appreciated it and went down to see it.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/27/2012