Looking for the biggest way to celebrate the Christmas season? That’s easy. Just make your way to DeSoto Parish in Louisiana, home to the tallest Christmas tree not just in the parish, the state, or even the nation — but the entire world.
On Nov. 24, the town, which sits just outside of Shreveport along the Texas border, threw a holiday bash unlike any other with flowing hot cocoa and plenty of cookies for all. And of course, Santa was present in the crowd to help light up its Christmas tree, which, yes, technically is a “tree structure,” but we’ll let that technicality slide. Why’d they do it? Because it seemed like a cool idea, that’s why.
“It went from a cool idea to we’re going to have the largest tree in the world,” DeSoto Parish’s Sheriff Jayson Richardson told KTBS, adding that local businesses helped sponsor the construction of the tree.
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Courtesy of DeSoto Parish
While we can let the technicality of it not actually being a tree go, the record books can’t. It will not be listed on any “official” tallest tree lists, as those designations go to real arbors only. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the honor of the “world’s tallest cut Christmas tree” still belongs to a Douglas fir erected at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle in December 1950, which measured 221 feet. (There is a lot of other inconsistent data out there as to who holds the record for the tallest Christmas tree around the U.S. and the world, so we’ll leave it at this documented winner.)
To put this all in perspective, the 2023 Rockefeller Christmas Tree in New York City, arguably one of the most famous Christmas trees on earth, clocks in at just 80 feet, which feels positively paltry in comparison. You can visit the tree in DeSoto Parish any time through January 2024, when the lights get turned off for the new year.