Not even fire and rot will keep the pine tree on the corner of Main Street and 102nd Avenue NE in Bothell from being a holiday icon.

“Trees — especially this one — are pretty resilient,” said Nancy Pipinich, who owns the property where the tree is located.

Singed needles from this summer’s fire on Main Street turned out to be the least of the problems when it came to stringing up the lights on the tree. Ryan Fleming, owner of Fleming’s Holiday Lighting, discovered the top of the tree was rotting when he and his crew went to start decorating it last month.

“It’s a good thing we caught that,” he said, adding rotten pieces easily could have fallen on nearby buildings, streets or people.

As a result, the decoration took a bit longer than planned, as they had to bring in a crane to reshape the tree.

“It’s a little shorter now because it was made safe,” Susan Gardner, one of the event organizers, said.

The lights are now ready to go ahead of Bothell’s Tree Lighting Festival on Main Street from 5 to 7 p.m. on Dec. 4.

“Our tree is beautiful,” Pipinich said, adding they had a test lighting to make sure everything looked right. “It’s quite a sight.”

The lighting ceremony dates back to the 1930s, and in 1962, Life magazine declared that tree the largest lit-up Christmas tree. The ceremony did cease in the 1970s due to damaged branches, but Pipinich brought the ceremony back as a festival last year after buying the property.

“I can’t wait to do it again,” Pipinich said.

Gardner said this year’s free event will include music, activities and treats.

“Santa will arrive by firetruck,” Pipinich added.

Those interested in volunteering or donating to the festival should contact Gardner at sgardner3@mindspring.com. More information can be found at bothelltreelightingfestival.com.