Chandler's Tumbleweed Christmas Tree: The 1957 Story Behind It

Chandler's Tumbleweed Tree started in 1957, when the town's holiday decorations needed replacing and decorator Earle Barnum suggested a Christmas tree made from the one thing the desert had plenty of: tumbleweeds. The first one, about 30 feet tall, went up in the town square that November, and Chandler has kept the tradition going ever since.

Every December somebody new to Chandler asks me, "Is that tree really made of tumbleweeds?" It is. Here is how a small farm town ended up with such an Arizona tradition.

Why Chandler Needed New Decorations in 1957

For years there was a local legend that a fire in a storage shed wiped out Chandler's Christmas decorations, forcing the town to start over. According to the City of Chandler and the Chandler Museum, that story is folklore. The real problem was more ordinary. APS had replaced the downtown light poles with lighter poles that could not hold the town's old strings of holiday lights.

So in 1957 the Chandler Community Coordinating Council began planning new decorations for downtown. A committee led by Bill Wilson, the manager of the local J.C. Penney store, brought its plan to the council that September. The plan called for better displays in what is now Dr. A.J. Chandler Park and along Arizona Avenue.

Earle Barnum's Idea: A Pine Tree, Desert Style

The town decorator, Earle Barnum, had grown up in Elkhart, Indiana, where the community built a holiday tree from pine branches. He wanted something like that for Chandler, but pine boughs were hard to come by in the low desert. What Chandler did have, blowing across every field and empty lot, was tumbleweeds.

Mayor Bert Lewis approved the idea, and local service clubs, garden clubs, the Future Farmers of America and members of the police and fire departments pitched in. The Kiwanis Club built the tree, and APS donated a telephone pole for its center. The first Tumbleweed Tree was finished on November 27, 1957, in the town square.

A Slow Start for a Future Icon

Here is my favorite part of the story. That first year, the tree barely got noticed. The Chandler Museum notes that the newspaper coverage did not even mention that it was made of tumbleweeds. The decorations that got the attention were 80 wreaths made from cotton bolls, painted silver and hung on the light poles downtown and along Arizona Avenue.

It took a few years for people to fall for the tree. By 1959 the local paper, the Chandler Arizonan, was bragging about the "great Tumbleweed Tree" and encouraging readers to mail photos and postcards of it to friends and family back home. A fifth grader at Cleveland Grade School even wrote a letter to the paper thanking Mr. Barnum for the idea.

Surviving Vandals and Fire

A tree made of dry weeds has an obvious weakness. In 1969, vandals partly destroyed it. Starting the next year, the city began treating the tree with fire retardant, and that change held up against several arson attempts. The tree has still burned more than once over its long history, but it has always come back.

How the Tumbleweed Tree Is Built Today

The early trees were simple: tumbleweeds packed against a telephone pole and held in place with strings of lights. Today's version is more engineered. Here is how the city describes the process:

• Gathering: starting around October, city crews search fields, vacant lots and construction sites for more than 1,000 tumbleweeds, then dry and store them.
• The frame: a metal pole is bolted into the ground, with rings at the top and bottom joined by cables to make the cone shape.
• Assembly: chicken wire wraps the frame, and the tumbleweeds are tied on, often doubled and tripled up to fill out the shape.
• Finishing: the crew sprays on fire retardant and gallons of paint, adds a coat of glitter while the paint is still wet, and strings about 1,200 lights. A star goes on top.

The finished tree averages around 33 feet tall. The city credits a small Parks crew with building it, and some of those workers have families who have been part of the job for decades.

Wait, Where Did Tumbleweeds Come From?

A fun twist: the plant most people picture as a tumbleweed, the Russian thistle, is not native to the American West at all. It comes from Eurasia and is thought to have arrived in the United States in shipments of flax seed to South Dakota around the 1870s. Once mature, it dries out, snaps off at the base and rolls with the wind, scattering seeds as it goes.

Seeing the Tree This Year

The City of Chandler lists the 2026 Tumbleweed Tree Lighting and Parade of Lights for Saturday, December 5, from 4:30 to 9 p.m. in downtown Chandler at 3 S. Arizona Avenue. The event is free. The city notes that this year's activities move to the renovated west side of Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, with vendors along San Marcos Place. Check the city's event page before you go for road closures and parking. I rounded up more East Valley dates in my post on holiday events in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert.

If you are thinking about living near downtown Chandler, my Moving to Chandler guide covers the city's neighborhoods and history, and you can browse homes for sale in Chandler. For another East Valley origin story, read how Tempe got its name.

Questions People Ask

When did Chandler's Tumbleweed Tree start?
The first Tumbleweed Tree was finished on November 27, 1957, in Chandler's town square. It was suggested by town decorator Earle Barnum after the town needed new holiday decorations.

How many tumbleweeds are in the Chandler Tumbleweed Tree?
More than 1,000. City crews collect them from fields and vacant lots starting around October, then tie them onto a metal and chicken wire frame.

Is the Tumbleweed Tree lighting free?
Yes. The City of Chandler lists the 2026 Tumbleweed Tree Lighting and Parade of Lights as a free event on Saturday, December 5, in downtown Chandler.

Terry Day, REALTOR®, DeLex Realty, 10115 E Bell Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260.