The tree is not kept in water, but it doesn’t dry out quickly due to its size.
Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour is coming back for 2023
The Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour is coming back for 2023, the drinks firm has confirmed, with huge red festive lorries set to pull up in town and city centres, as well as shopping centres, across the UK. The Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour is an annual event that sees huge red Coke trucks, which feature in the brand’s Christmas adverts, visiting locations to hand out free drinks, offer a chance to meet Santa and set up photo opportunities.
Thousands of people flock to see the events each year, inspired by the Holidays are Coming ad campaigns. The tour typically involves a fleet of Coca-Cola branded trucks adorned with festive decorations and holiday lights, often featuring the iconic Coca-Cola polar bear and Santa mascots. The trucks travel to different cities and towns, making stops at various locations, such as shopping centers, public squares, and other popular gathering places.
The tour has become a recognizable part of the holiday season in some regions and is often associated with the Christmas season, despite being a commercial marketing initiative. While the specifics of the tour may vary from year to year and by location, it generally aims to spread joy and goodwill during the festive period.
Taking to X, one van asked the Coke GB team if the tour was going ahead in 2023, writing “Hey @CocaCola_GB is there going to be a truck Christmas tour this year?”
A spokesman replied: “Hi Tim! We can confirm there will be a Truck Tour this year however our team are still finalizing the details so keep an eye on our socials for updates. Thanks The Coca-Cola Team.”
Full details of the tour have yet to be announced with locations and dates coming in the next few days. In recent years, Coca-Cola has released the dates a few at a time and just a few days ahead of where the truck will be.
As well as a fun family and [promotional event, the tour helps Coca-Cola raise money for good causes – which last year included free meals for those in need and the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
It takes a village
Every year, a 35-foot Fraser fir tree is delivered to the estate a couple days before the official kick off to the holiday season. It takes at least 50 people to lift the tree off of the back of a truck and carry it through the front doors of the estate and into the banquet hall. Some people head upstairs, while others remain on ground level, as they use ropes to literally raise the tree off of the ground and position it in final location in the hall.
Biltmore kicks off holiday season with annual tree-raising
It’s a 35-foot Fraser Fir Tree for a reason
Lizzie Borchers, Floral Displays Manager for Biltmore, said that the tree is always 35-feet tall because archival information shows that George Vanderbilt requested a 35-foot tree for the first Biltmore Christmas celebration in 1895.
For years, the tree has come from the same nursery in Avery County – Andrews Nursery.
Tree selection starts month ahead of time
In August, Borchers said she went to the nursery and “climbed a mountain” to take a look at potential trees. The tree selected this year is about 30 years old.
“There’s a lot of things that can affect the look of a tree in that amount of time,” Borchers said, remembering one potential tree’s trunk being damaged by a boulder hitting it.
Overall, the planning for Christmas at Biltmore each year starts the previous year during the holidays.
“It really begins the Christmas before when we start looking at the rooms, deciding, who’s gonna be decorating them and start developing plans, center those plans around a theme,” Borchers said.
