Galleria Dallas Begins Assembly of 95-Foot Indoor Christmas Tree

Galleria Dallas has started the annual construction of its 95-foot Christmas tree, the tallest indoor holiday display in the United States. The shopping center in Dallas, Texas, began work today on the structure that has served as a regional landmark for decades. The tree will stand in the Center Court atrium until January 4.

For the first time, the mall is selling official photo sessions with the tree. These professional portraits cost $10 and include up to three poses for six guests. The center will deliver digital files to customers, with physical prints available for an extra $5 each. Sessions are available from November 13 through January 3.

The physical construction of the tree is a complex engineering task. A team of nearly 50 workers will spend five days building the structure. The process begins with the installation of a five-ton steel frame. Workers then attach more than 850 artificial branches, each hand-sewn with twigs. The creation of these branches required more than 14,000 shop hours.

The lighting system is powered by Twinkly, an Italian technology firm that also supplies the lighted tree at the Vatican. The tree features more than 215,000 programmable LED lights. These lights display animations of dancing reindeer, Santa Claus, floating candy canes, and holiday gifts. A 10-foot LED star, weighing 100 pounds, sits at the top of the tree. This is the first star of its kind in the United States.

The completed tree will be ready for viewing on November 5. The shopping center hosts its Grand Tree Lightings on Black Friday, November 27, and on November 28 and December 5. These free events include skate performances by Olympic skaters and students from the Galleria Ice Skating Center. The shows also feature Missile Toes, a backflipping Santa who shoots fireworks from his skates.

The mall hosts more skaters around its tree than the Rockefeller Center in New York City. Couples frequently use the ice rink as a location for marriage proposals. The daily Illumination Celebration features the tree lights dancing to orchestrated music. This event occurs daily at noon and at 2, 4, and 6 p.m. starting on Black Friday. The light show is mirrored on two 36-foot trees located on Level 1 near Grand Lux Cafe and Alo.

The rest of the shopping center is decorated to match the central tree. Forty-four palm trees on Level 3 are wrapped with 50,000 additional lights. Ten other Christmas trees inside the mall, including two 36-foot structures, feature an additional 40,000 lights. Outside, 30 trees along the Dallas North Tollway are adorned with 100,000 red LED lights to welcome visitors.