ELKINS — To help celebrate the arrival of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree next month, Our Town Inc. will be distributing ornaments to be placed on trees throughout downtown.

The 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will be displayed on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol this holiday season. This year’s tree will be harvested in the Monongahela National Forest in Randolph County.

Our Town Inc. will be handing out 100 ornaments at the Dann Building on Third Street from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

“The ornaments we are handing out are kind of like the flowers we distribute during the spring,” Our Town President Tammy Dolly told The Inter-Mountain. “They will be much smaller, though, and are only five inches tall and five and a half inches wide. It’s a little piece of thin birch wood that can literally be painted or decorated at the coffee table with the kids, or at the kitchen table with a bunch of newspapers down.”

Residents picking up ornaments will have until Oct. 28 to return their finished work. The drop-off time will be from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bialek Station Square Office Complex, where Our Town will have a tent set up next to the Hippy Chick Boutique.

“We thought this would be a good day for everyone to bring the ornaments back because it’s the same day they are having the Trick-or-Treat events downtown,” Dolly said. “This way everyone can come to town, turn in their ornaments and get some candy.”

The ornaments need only to be decorated on one side. They will be placed on 13 Christmas trees – each four feet high – around downtown. Each tree will be decorated with eight ornaments.

“People who decorate the ornaments need to know that unlike the flowers, they won’t be getting them back,” Dolly said. “Because once they get mounted to the trees, we won’t be able to take them off. We do hope to use them for years to come, though.”

The project is free and open to the public. The West Virginia Wood Technology Center is providing the materials for the project.

“Mike McCauley and Kris Wilmoth at the Wood Tech Center are helping us with the cutouts,” Dolly said. “They help us and donate their time every single time we need something. We are blessed to live in a community where when you need something, people always step up and help out.”

The Capitol Christmas Tree will arrive in Elkins on Nov. 4. It will be on display from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are proud to be doing this project and I want to thank all of the Our Town volunteers for their continuous hard work,” said Dolly. “We like to give people something to look forward to each and every holiday. We enjoy doing things like this, but without the participation of our community, none of it is possible.”

For more information on the ornaments, call the Delmonte Market at 304-636-4400.

Ornaments will adorn downtown trees