Williams, Torr families donate spruce for city's official Christmas tree

The 35-foot spruce is already positioned in Central Square (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - The city's DPW has selected a Christmas tree to decorate the downtown donated by the Williams family of Chestnut Hill Road.

According to Lynn Torr Williams, the property has been in the Torr family since the 1800s. In the 1960s, Franklin Torr sold the property to the Byron family. During their ownership, Mr. and Mrs. Byron planted the blue spruce. The property changed hands a few times before the Torr family had the opportunity to repurchase it.

The Williams and Torr families expressed that their families wish to donate the tree in memory of Ralph and Pauline Torr.

DPW officials said they look forward to featuring the 35-foot spruce in the Central Square Holiday display. .

On Nov. 13, Save a Tree Company of Rochester volunteered their staff to transport the tree to the downtown area. This year, Save a Tree was represented by Ryan Bardzik, AJ McKee, Quintyn Gregg, John Morton, and Clayton Norton. They assisted the DPW with removing the tree from the Chestnut Hill Road property and helped set it up on Central Square. The DPW staff involved in transporting and positioning the tree were Paul Michaud, Joe Sanborn, Rick Wentworth, Josh Roseberry, and Kevin Chandler.

Throughout November, the DPW team will work to complete the downtown lights and decorations in time for the holiday season. The festivities will kick off with the Christmas Tree Lighting event on Dec. 6, followed by the Holiday Parade on Dec 8.

This year's decorations were made by students from the Monarch School and Rochester Elementary School. Monarch School students will also assist the DPW staff in trimming the tree this week.

The DPW appreciates the collaborative efforts of everyone involved and is proud to uphold these annual traditions.