Mike Higdon

mhigdon@rgj.com

Yesterday, the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks announced it had the tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree in North America for 2016, standing at 105-feet tall. Today, the RGJ learned that Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles, in fact, erected a tree 10 feet taller.

"In the holiday spirit, the Nugget Casino Resort would like to congratulate Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles for topping us for the tallest cut Christmas tree in the country," according to a statement from Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks. "We went out on a limb and you stumped us, Citadel. You must have a top-notch branch manager!"

The Nugget will hold a lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in front of the Nugget on Victorian Ave. near the Nugget Oyster Bar entrance.

Nugget casino's Christmas tree is tallest in country, so far

“Nugget Casino Resort, we humbly accept your congratulations and the kind words have us aglow," according to a statement from Citadel Outlets. "We love that this festive rivalry helped spread holiday joy far and wide. If you eat your Wheaties, we’ll have quite the competition next season!”

While Citadel Outlets claims to be the tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree in the world, it's possible another one will pop up somewhere else to contend for the title. But for now, it is theirs.

Most other "trees" taller than 115 feet are in fact, constructed out of thousands of smaller trees or made of metal and not an actual tree at all. A 278-foot metal Christmas "tree" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was awarded the tallest floating Christmas tree in the world as it drifted around Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon in 2007 and continues that tradition each year.

Citadel Outlets director of public relations also noted that their tree is adorned with 10,000 ornaments and bows and 18,000 lights, compared to the Nugget's 3,000 LED lights. Both trees are White Firs but the Nugget's tree came from Oregon while the Citadel's tree came from northern California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

It's currently unknown which tree has the bigger star on top. But in either case, the three tallest fresh-cut Christmas trees in America stand within the borders of California and Nevada, once again proving that the West Coast is the best coast.

Mike Higdon is the city life reporter at the RGJ and can be found on Instagram @MillennialMike and on Facebook at Mike Higdon, Reno Life.