Long before she was filling stadiums around the world, a teenage Taylor Swift performed beneath the lights of Outlets North Phoenix’s towering Christmas tree.
While Swift went on to worldwide fame, the tree became a holiday fixture for generations of Arizona families.
The annual tree-lighting ceremony returns Saturday, Nov. 21, at 6:30 p.m., with holiday entertainment, seasonal activities, and — maybe the next global pop stars — Full Circle Boys. Attendance will be in the thousands.
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Arizona Family’s Gibby Parra will emcee the event, which also features performances by the Arizona Broadway Theatre’s HyRev, an elite teen performance group.
But first, the outlets will celebrate the 70-foot-tall white fir’s arrival at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov 5. Santa Claus will accompany the flat-bed truck.
The tree begins its journey in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near the California-Oregon border before making the trek to Arizona.
After its 250-mile trek, a 10-person crew from Victor’s Custom Christmas Trees spends more than two weeks restoring branches that were removed for transport, shaping the tree, and hanging thousands of decorations.
When fully decorated, the tree sparkles with approximately 10,000 LED lights stretched across more than 1.5 miles of wiring and adorned with 5,000 ornaments and bows. The finished display weighs nearly four tons.
The crew drills holes into the tree and then replaces and secures the branches back in from where they came from, Truax said.
“It’s really quite something,” said JoAnn Truax, director of real estate operations and marketing for the outlets.
Keeping a fresh-cut tree healthy in the Arizona desert is a feat. The tree sits in a custom-built, 6-foot-deep water-filled well and is secured with industrial support wires.
For Truax, the annual arrival is more than an event on the calendar.
“I have been a part of this tradition since 2004,” she said. “It’s one of those moments, just like anyone else, that first ornament that goes up at Christmas. It changes your perspective a bit.”
Part of what makes the tradition enduring is how little it has changed. That consistency has helped create decades of memories, including Swift’s show.
In 2006, a 16-year-old Swift played after Hall of Fame DJs Tim Hattrick and Willy D. Loon recommended the up-and-coming artist for the event.
“The radio station called and said, ‘Hey, we have this young girl who we think is going to be someone special. Can she play?’” Truax recalled. “So, she played for free.”
What Truax remembers most, however, wasn’t the performance.
“I remember even at 16, she was an incredible performer,” she said. “When she was doing autographs at the end, she would not leave until the last fan left.”
The memory became even more personal when Swift introduced herself to Truax’s young daughter.
“She had invited my daughter, who was 9 at the time, to help her in our merch booth, and then she took her out for ice cream,” Truax said.
The events bring a smile to Truax’s face.
“It’s the first thing I personally do for the holiday season, whether it’s business or my home,” she said. “It’s this moment of, ‘OK, we’re flipping the switch,’ and the fun begins.”
