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Tree To Take Holidays To New Heights

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

Updated: 11/26/2007 09:55 pm

WESLEY CHAPEL - As the county wrapped up work last spring on its new district park at Boyette and Overpass roads, chamber of commerce officials planted a tiny pine they hope will grow up to be the hub of future holidays in Wesley Chapel.
Chamber officials will hold their first tree lighting ceremony this weekend at the park. Because the community tree, a Carolina sapphire, looks more Charlie Brown Christmas special than Rockefeller Center, the chamber plans to install a 9-foot-tall artificial tree as a temporary stand in.

"We're hoping the little tree will grow as the community grows and be the holiday tree for years to come," said Jason Wilson, executive director for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce.

"In the meantime, we're going to have an artificial tree next to it," Wilson said.
Chamber officials expect the live tree to grow about a half-foot a year, reaching 40 feet, Wilson said. It's a little more than 3 feet tall right now.

Tree lighting festivities will start at 4 p.m. Saturday. Members of the community are invited to bring ornaments to hang on the tree.

There also will be free refreshments and a children's choir singing holiday songs.

Despite the presence of the tree on county property, County Attorney Bob Sumner's office said it had no problem with the display.

Two years ago, Sumner's office issued guidelines that let private citizens erect holiday displays on public property provided the displays include a statement that the county doesn't endorse them.

That ruling followed a 2004 controversy after the county banned a Jewish man from erecting a menorah in front of a county library. County crews removed several Christmas trees from county property at the time but replaced them later.

This year's Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce tree lighting has provoked an outcry from some members of the community upset that the chamber is calling the tree a "holiday tree" rather than a "Christmas tree."
Paul Burdick is among those who say the chamber has unfairly snubbed religion in favor of secularism.

"In an effort not to offend anyone, the result is to offend a lot of people," said Burdick, the new pastor of Wesley Chapel Church of the Nazarene.

Burdick said he's not trying to create conflict, but he also thinks chamber officials are guilty of "extreme sensitivity" by renaming the Christmas tree to avoid offending non-Christians despite the presence of 12 Christian churches within the chamber's membership.

"It would be no offense to me if somebody put a menorah there or a Muslim symbol there," Burdick said.

Wilson said the chamber is trying to embrace the entire community with its tree instead of highlighting the differences.

"We do have a lot of people in the chamber and on the events committee who celebrate different holidays," Wilson said. "We didn't want to exclude anybody."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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