FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Fort Wayne’s annual Christmas on Broadway event is almost here.

Early this morning crews showed up at Broadway Plaza to install a 40-foot-tall blue spruce tree ahead of Friday’s celebration. Organizer Steve Shine tells WOWO News things will take shape quickly.

“The lights will be put on the tree beginning tomorrow, and there will be 40,000 of them strung,” Shine says. “Then of course we light it at 6pm with the fireworks, contemporaneously with the tree lighting.”

Dan Mudrack of Mudrack Tree Service tells WOWO News it’s an arduous task:

“It’s an all day affair for sure,” he says, recounting the process from picking up the tree to securing it to a flatbed trailer to installing it.

WOWO staffers and volunteers will be on hand to help kickstart fundraising for our annual Penny Pitch effort, this year benefiting GiGi’s Playhouse, starting at 3pm with a live broadcast of the Pat Miller program. Find more details on that here.