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[bright holiday music]

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- Angela Fitzgerald: The
holidays in downtown Manitowoc

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sparkle, shimmer, and shine.

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It's officially
Evergleam season.

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- This all started in 2015.

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A man gave birth to an idea,
and that man is over here.

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His name is Steve Siehr.

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- Angela: Steve Siehr
is a hometown boy

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who put these retro
Christmas trees

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back in the spotlight.

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- Steve Siehr: This year,
I got seven trees

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over at Maritime.

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Sometimes, I might have
up to a dozen.

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- Angela: At the historic
Schuette Building,

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there is a high shine
collector showcase.

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Every branch tells a story
about the city

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and that vintage aluminum glow.

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- Steve: There's probably
more trees in this space

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than any other.

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I set up a four-foot,
a six-foot,

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and a seven-foot pink
that are right behind me.

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The story always was there's
only one pink tree made

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for every 10,000 trees.

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- Angela: Resurrecting these
shiny gems

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became a quest for Steve

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in this, the aluminum tree
capital of the world.

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- Steve: I would go
from store to store kind of

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and just cold-call 'em.

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Just talk to 'em about the
aluminum trees

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and what they thought about
maybe doing a show

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where we put the trees
in the windows.

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- Cathy Karl:
Have a nice holiday!

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- Angela: Cathy Karl
owns a store

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in the city's historic district

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and is described as the heart
and hustle of downtown.

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- He came into my store
and I thought he was crazy.

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[laughs] He's been here
three times today already.

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[both laugh]

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I knew nothing about them
except that they were silver

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and made in Manitowoc.

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I said, "Well, dude,
if you wanna do all the work,

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I don't really care."

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We were looking for a holiday
event, so we tried it.

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- Angela: In 2015,

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Steve's midcentury dreamscape
became reality

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with the show
Evergleams on Eighth.

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- It got started because
I collected a lot of trees

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over a number of years.
- [whispers] How many trees?

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- Well, I've got over 200 trees.

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- Angela: Steve was the guardian
of the glow,

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making sure everything twinkled.

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- Steve: This is pretty personal
for me.

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Every night,
I would get in the car

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and drive through downtown
to make sure

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all the trees were behaving
themselves, they were all lit.

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The show looked good.

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It didn't have any problems.

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That's the nice tree
with the color wheel on it.

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- Angela: Word spread,

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and other collectors
wanted to share the nostalgia.

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- All of a sudden,
the community embraced it,

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embraced the whole idea.

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- Angela: At the library,
an enchanted Evergleam forest,

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displaying some of the rarest
of the rare.

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- Cathy: That's one gal's
collection of 50 trees.

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- Steve: That is
an exceptional collection.

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- Angela: Vintage treasures
radiating a metallic glow.

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- Cathy: And then, we also have
the 14-footer there

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that nobody knew even existed.

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- My God, that is...
that's amazing.

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- Guide: 14 feet, again.

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- Angela: Today, the nonprofit

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Manitowoc Aluminum Kitschmas
Incorporated runs the show,

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with tours paying tribute
to the trees

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and local companies
that created the sparkle.

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- That was very different
than anything

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anybody had ever seen
for Christmas in 1958.

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- That was like
a space age metal.

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That was something new
and exciting.

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- Steve: We start in November

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and we don't take down
'til January.

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- Cathy: We have over 150 trees.

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We have 40 locations.

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You either love these trees
or you hate these trees.

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- Angela: Love them
or loathe them,

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Aluminum Specialty made its mark
on pop culture

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when they began manufacturing
these trees in the late '50s.

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And other local companies
followed.

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- They had the market.

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They were bigger.

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They were the big dog.

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- Cathy: It's prettiness
in a box.

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And they sold for cheaper
than $5 up to maybe $25.

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- Angela: The meteoric rise
of the Evergleam era

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was a fleeting fad.

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Within a decade, the cool factor
began to feel cold.

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- Cathy: I'm fascinated
by the history of it.

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- Angela: Now,
more than 65 years later,

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history is repeating itself.

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Everything old is cool again.

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- Cathy: They have become
really popular.

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- Steve: You know, they made
a few million trees,

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so there's enough of them
out there

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to create a collector base.

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- Angela: The iconic
space age silhouettes are back,

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and collectors can't get enough.

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- Well, I did just get one
this year. [laughs]

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I think I have maybe, 25 maybe?

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But don't tell my husband.
[laughs]

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- Steve: There's a lot of money
chasing trees now.

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- Angela: Rare, colored
Evergleam trees

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are the crown jewels,

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commanding fierce competition
and higher prices.

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- Steve: You had the gold
and the green and the pink.

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The pink being the most rare.

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Well, the last one, which was
kind of outside of the box,

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was a tree called
the blue frost.

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That is a clean,
spectacular tree.

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The aluminum's still nice
and shiny.

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Whoa.

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A tree in that condition
is not always easy to find.

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- I think the last one that was
on eBay sold for over $10,000.

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We have some pretty valuable
trees in these windows.

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- Angela: For more
than a decade,

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these iridescent trees have
sparkled downtown.

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- Guide: Look at how beautiful
that is, Steve.

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All the beautiful lights.

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- Steve: They're coming to see
the trees,

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but they're also experiencing
downtown Manitowoc.

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- Angela: Turning a simple
hometown tribute

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into a collective celebration
that is uniquely Manitowoc.

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- If it wasn't my hometown,
I wouldn't have done it.

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Made all the difference
in the world.