OFFICIALS DOWNSIZE STATEHOUSE TREE DUE TO ECONOMIC RECESSION

South Carolinians who pass by the State Capitol this holiday season will be able to relate to poor Charlie Brown and his tiny wooden Christmas tree.

State officials Tuesday announced that this year’s official Statehouse tree has been downsized due to the economic recession.

This year’s tree is about 30-feet tall and doesn’t even reach the top of the Confederate soldiers’ monument on the capitol’s front lawn.

“We’re like nonprofits and other groups everywhere. We’ve got to be a little more careful with our money,” said Jane Suggs with the Columbia Garden Club, which has been putting up the tree along one of the city’s busiest streets for several years.

This year’s white fir costs about half as much as last year’s tree and came from a farm in Pennsylvania, instead of the North Carolina business which has supplied the trees in recent years.

Crews worked Tuesday to string lights on the tree, which was delivered the day before. The arrival caused its own problem. The seller wrapped the tree in netting like one bought from a common tree farm. When crews cut the packaging, branches broke off everywhere, leaving big bare patches on the bottom.

“We’ve got a tree in our yard that we’ve ran over a couple of times and it looks better than that,” said Will Stephens of Pelion, who came to take pictures of the tree with his wife after hearing it was looking a little raggedy. [AP]

WSPA has more on the awful tree here.

From the front, the tree looks fine. But from the back and sides, it’s pretty pathetic. Then again, so too is the state’s economy.