Joliet Announces Big Elm Tree Contest Winner

The winner of the 2014 City of Joliet’s “Big American Elm Tree Contest” is Catherine Comfort’s tree, located in the side yard of 401 Catherine St., Joliet City Manager Jim Hock said in a press release Monday.

The tree is 81 feet tall, with an average crown of 73 feet and a circumference of 154 inches or 12 feet, 10 inches. It had 253 points, a method of ranking big trees. 

The City’s Tree Advisory Board chooses a different species of tree each year for the “Big Tree Contest” to emphasize the importance of the mature urban forest in the City of Joliet. This is the eighth year that the contest has been held. 

Photographs of winning trees will be on display at City Hall, 150 W. Jefferson St., across from the Mayor’s office.