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Cabinet Members Decorate Local Christmas Trees At State Capitol

Gov. Rick Scott's Tree Tuesday morning.  After the lighting ceremony, someone in the Governor's office added many more decorations.
Credit Nick Evans
Gov. Rick Scott's Tree Tuesday morning. After the lighting ceremony, someone in the Governor's office added many more decorations.

Florida Governor Rick Scott is the proud recipient of a Florida-grown Virginia Pine Christmas tree.  Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam presented the tree Tuesday as part of an annual tradition promoting Florida agriculture.

Florida may be better known for its palm trees or perhaps its orange trees.  But right now in the midst of the holiday season, Commissioner Putnam is highlighting another bit of Florida timber.

“Every year in Florida there are about 16,000 Florida Christmas trees harvested,” Putnam says.  “It’s a drop in the bucket to the 30 million live Christmas trees that will be sold this Christmas season—this holiday season, but we’re very proud of our 3 million dollar Florida Christmas tree industry.”

Putnam didn’t need to go far.  All four of this year’s trees—one for each Cabinet member—came from the Havana Christmas Tree Farm.  It’s actually on the same street as the historic Capitol building, just fourteen miles north.

Nick Evans came to Tallahassee to pursue a masters in communications at Florida State University. He graduated in 2014, but not before picking up an internship at WFSU. While he worked on his degree Nick moved from intern, to part-timer, to full-time reporter. Before moving to Tallahassee, Nick lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He listens to far too many podcasts and is a die-hard 49ers football fan. When Nick’s not at work he likes to cook, play music and read.