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ENID, Okla. (KFOR) – The world’s tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree now stands tall in Enid, Oklahoma. 

“The White House has a 35-foot tree, Rockefeller center has a 75-foot tree, why shouldn’t we have a 140-foot tree in Enid, Oklahoma?!” said Enid Mayor, George Pankonin. 

The town gathered to celebrate the raising of the tree Thursday. 

Slowly but surely, it made its way toward the sky. 

The journey to get to Oklahoma was two years in the making. 

“As we were looking around the country what we found out was, most of the tall Christmas trees were put up at outlet malls, and casinos, and the tallest was about 115-120 feet, we started thinking, ‘We can do that… we can absolutely do that,'” said Kyle Williams with The One Enid. 

Williams and his family came up with this whole idea. 

Truck driver, Milo Mondle and his team, drove the tree over 1,800 miles from a forest in Northern California. 

He says this was some of the most precious cargo he’s ever been responsible for. 

“I think I could retire right now and be happy,” Mondle laughed. “How do you top this?”

Photo goes with story
The 140-foot tree.

To decorate, ‘The One Enid‘ says they’ve got 18,000 lights and a grand total of 10,000 ornaments. 

“I never had anything like this when I was a kid!” said spectator Cheryl Young. 

They’ll also work to fill in the lower section of the tree with smaller trees, and more branches. 

“The tree was already marked for harvest so we did not take a tree that wasn’t going to be cut anyway,” added Mayor Pankonin. 

Everyone from the young to the old gathered Thursday to see the beauty in all its glory. 

“We hope that people will come from all over Oklahoma, all over the nation,” added Nicole Windfield with The One Enid.

In the spitit of Christmas, this tree will continue to give once the holidays pass. 

Crews will cut the wood and donate it to Habitat for Humanity. 

“We can celebrate with it for a while, and it can help someone after we’re done,” said Pankonin. 

Organizers are also fire-proofing the tree. 

They will turn the lights on November 26th. 

KFOR did some research, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest tree ever recorded was back in 1950 in Seattle, reaching 221 ft. 

More recently, in 2019, it seems it was a 115-foot tree in Los Angeles.