In Humbird Wisconsin any time between the Friday before hunting season in November and the coming New Year you’ll notice a brightly lit Christmas Tree high on Humbird Bluff.
The long standing tradition of putting a Christmas tree up on the bluff started in the late 1950’s when members of the Humbird Community Club built a wooden frame, mounted it to a tree, wrapped lights around it, connected power through the local Church. Around 1966 the wooden frame was replaced with an old steel windmill frame donated by Harold & Muriel Hart.
Dave Laffe & Craig Adams said they were Humbird Boyscouts back then and can remember helping to carry up parts of the old steel windmill. Jim Trachsel who was a member of the Humbird Community Club recalls welding parts of the frame and cementing the legs in place. He said he believes the original idea for putting the tree up back in the late 50’s was the club President Roy Johnson. But there were a number of other people involved including Dick Walker, Angus Flood, and Gordy Gehring. The Community Club and the Humbird boyscouts originally maintained the tree supplying & replacing old bulbs each year.
The club & local boyscouts waned as time passed by but some individuals started supplying the & replacing bulbs every year on their own just to keep the tradition going. Most notably was Bob Nandory who supplied bulbs every fall for 10 – 12 years. Now Dave Laffe one of the original boyscouts has been carrying the tradition forward for the last 15 years.
Scott & Angie Sanders picked up after Dave. For 2-3 year they kept the tradition going by helping with tree lights and decorating the gazebo with light.
For the past couple years the Tree has been maintained by the Town and will continue to be a tradition for years to come.
Contributors: Pat Gerber, Jim Trachsel, Dave Laffe and Craig Adams.
