The Night - or Any Night It's Wet Outside - the Lights Went Out in Birmingham

Birmingham’s artificial holiday tree has been controversial since before it was lit for the first time in 2012. Now, city officials trying to resolve problems that cause the lights to go out when it’s wet outside – which is often in a snowy Michigan winter. (Photo: Birmingham Principal Shopping District Facebook page)

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... Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,

You’ll never be unchanging!

A symbol of goodwill and love

You’ll ever be unchanging

Each shining light

Each silver bell

No one alive spreads cheer so well.

If only.

The city of Birmingham spent $30,000 on a “Giant Everest” to preside over holiday festivities in Shain Park and serve as a beacon of goodwill with its 22,260 LED lights.

The pre-lit, 35-foot-tall tree made its debut in 2012 and, by most accounts, cast a lovely light.

But there’s a problem – one potentially bigger than the headache city officials got when they replaced the live Christmas tree with a, gasp, artificial tree:

When the tree gets wet, the colored lights go dark, the Observer & Eccentric reports.

“It’s like telling someone with windshield wipers on their car, if they get wet they might not work,” Hoff said. “What good is that?” – Birmingham City Commissioner Rackeline Hoff

That’s a fairly frequent occurrence in a snowy Michigan winter, and city council members are vexed about what to do about it.

Simple laws of physics and safety features are working against them.

“Water and electricity don’t mix,” Birmingham City Manager Joe Valentine told the City Council earlier this week. The ground fault circuit interrupter shuts off the electric current when it’s wet outside, limiting the possibility of an electric shock or fire. A reset is required before the lights start twinkling again.

That doesn’t sit well with City Commissioner Rackeline Hoff

“It’s like telling someone with windshield wipers on their car, if they get wet they might not work,” Hoff said. “What good is that?”

An investigation turned up buyer’s remorse in some other areas because of the “nuisance tripping,” Parks and Recreation Manager Carrie Laird said. The same tree is displayed at the Memphis Zoo and Cincinnati Zoo, Macy’s, Sea World, Six Flags and numerous municipalities.

She said some modifications may keep the lights on during inclement weather, bt she couldn’t make any guarantees.

“C’mon,” Mayor Scott Moore said. “You got to leave the lights on.”

The artificial tree opened to harsh criticism in 2012.John Heiney, executive director of Birmingham’s Principal Shopping District, which ponied up half the cost of the $30,000 tree said at the time.

“I would rather see a Charlie Brown tree than a $30,000 plastic tree.”

Melissa Vedder of Birmingham told MLive in 2012 that the idea of an artificial tree was “horrible” and “honestly tacky.”

“It’s going to be outside. Why would you put a fake tree outside? It’s just absolutely ridiculous. I hate buying a fake tree to put inside. The kids have allergies; I have to have a fake tree. But outside? A fake one? I can’t even imagine,” she said.

City officials said at the time the decision was made to replace the live tree that its age and declining health made it difficult to achieve a “wow” factor, and that decorating it put workers at risk. This spring, the city decided to cut down the tree generations of residents grew up climbing.