50-foot blue spruce from Springdale to become Allegheny County's Christmas tree

The 50-foot blue spruce on the corner of Lindsay and Dennis Malinowski’s yard will come full circle this Christmas season.

In 1987, the five-foot Christmas tree was displayed in Ron Renaldi’s house. Instead of being discarded, it was planted at his mother’s home on Garfield Street in Springdale.

This year, it will be cut down again and decorated for Christmas.

This time, it will be on a much grander scale for the enjoyment of a much larger audience.

The tree will be showcased in the portico at the City-County Building on Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. It will be unveiled Friday, Nov. 22 as part of Light Up Night festivities.

“It’s pretty cool to be part of this,’’ said Lindsay Malinowski. “I wanted to do this anonymously, but we have three kids, and they can be a part of all this.’’

Malinowski said she and her husband, along with their children, Lillian, 8, Tessa, 6, and Zyggy, 3, will attend the lighting ceremony with Mayor Bill Peduto.

The Malinowskis bought the house from Renaldi’s parents almost 10 years ago. The decision to plant the tree in its current spot goes back to that Christmas in 1987.

Renaldi was laid off from a steel mill and took a job with a landscaping company planting trees.

“They gave me a five-foot tree as a Christmas present,’’ Renaldi said. “It came with a ball of roots on the bottom (allowing it to be replanted). So I brought it over from my house after Christmas and asked my mother (Anne) if she wanted it.

“She said yes, and we thought the best place for it was in the corner. And as they say, the rest is history.”

The tree sits behind a fence and takes up a big part of the yard where the Malinowski kids now play along with a host of neighborhood kids.

“A neighbor climbed all the way to the top recently,’’ Lynne Malinowski said. “I’ve always used it as a marker. It’s the first tree you see when you turn off Colfax Street.’’

Lisa Ceoffe, forester for the City of Pittsburgh, estimates the tree to be 50 feet tall.

“The portico where it will stand is about 60 feet, but we need about a 45-foot tree; anything else is not proportional for the area,’’ Ceoffee said. “We’ll get the exact measurement when we get them (Saturday) and drop the tape from the top.

“We may have to trim a little before we leave because we don’t want the tree to hang too much off the flatbed.’’

The tree will head through Springdale, Cheswick and Harmar, then get a police escort down Route 28 to the City-County Building.

Once Downtown, it will be put into a five-foot base. Evergreens from two other trees will be woven into the tree with rebar and wire to help fill out the tree.

Garland and other decorations will be installed Saturday.

Ceoffe said Pittsburgh puts out a call for a tree to be donated beginning in July and is usually locked in by the end of September.

This year’s decision came late because the right tree couldn’t be found.

“Not many trees this size survive a lot anymore,’’ Ceoffe said.

A drive by Malinowski’s house last year almost netted the tree a year ago. But another tree was found.

Lynne Malinowski said the county came back again this year and the family decided to donate the tree. She said they were not necessarily looking to cut it down, but said the opportunity to get rid of the tree that drops sap and pine cones in the yard where her kids play made the decision easier.

The City Forester Division will leave its headquarters in Highland Park around 6:30 a.m. Saturday and head to the Malinowskis’ house. Carl’s Tree Service will cut it and load it onto a flatbed.

Malinowski will plant another tree there, but it won’t be a blue spruce.

“I’m leaning toward a sycamore tree,’’ Malinowski said. “They said last year they will give us a tree to replace it, so I hope we get one.’’