February 2004

Gillian Woodburn • The Christmas Tree Bonfire

The annual Central South Dakota Christmas Tree Bonfire is always a highlight of my winter break. It’s a tradition started four years ago by my sister’s boyfriend, Michael, when he and the other staff of the Pierre City Pool got together and burned a few of their discarded trees. The next year, the event expanded to families and friends of the pool staff (which included me) and about ten trees. Last year saw a big leap, when about eight of Michael’s friends from Iowa State came up for a few days and we built a trebuchet (which is sort of like a catapult) to launch a flaming pop can 100 feet onto a pile of 42 trees and 4 wreaths soaked in gasoline. (This wasn’t exactly legal, but it took place on the bank of Lake Oahe when the water level was way down, so it wasn’t too dangerous either.)

This year Michael decided to do things the legal way, which meant having the bonfire closer to town, and which also meant that we could haul a lot more trees—122, at last count. The plan for the launching mechanism was a bigger, better trebuchet and a second component that would throw up a column of flour that the flaming projectile would ignite, setting the trees on fire. Unfortunately, construction didn’t go as planned. I helped build the flour-throwing device, or “Widowmaker” as it was later named. We tested it out in the middle of the street and it worked great a couple times, but then it fell apart before we could get it to the fire. The trebuchet looked great, but it only launched the flame-ball about ten feet before it bounced into the trees. But 122 Christmas trees going up in flames is still a pretty spectacular sight. And since it was only about 2 degrees outside, we all crowded around it.

I realize that all this sounds pretty bizarre, but to me it’s all very South Dakota. Where else could you practice launching a trebuchet in the middle of the street, sling around a flaming projectile in your backyard, and light up a huge pile of trees without being arrested?

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