2000 National Christmas Tree to Glow with Over 125,000 GE Lights; President Clinton to flip the switch Monday evening, Dec. 11.

Business Editors

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2000

    When President Clinton flips the switch to turn on the 2000
National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., on Monday evening,
December 11, the event will mark the 38th consecutive year that GE
Lighting, headquartered in Cleveland, has donated the design, lighting
and decorations for the tree. The nation's tree is a 48-foot-plus
Colorado Blue Spruce, located on the Ellipse between the White House
and the Washington Monument. The lighting ceremony and entertainment
program are hosted by the National Christmas Pageant of Peace, a
nonprofit Washington organization.
    The 2000 National Christmas Tree was designed with an emphasis on
tradition, using familiar holiday colors of green, red, gold, and
clear lights. "I hope people who view the National Christmas Tree this
season feel a sense of nostalgia in its beauty and simplicity,
conjuring up pleasant memories of past Christmases and warm family
gatherings," says GE Lighting's Kathy Presciano, who created the
design.
    Setting the artistic tone for the entire design is the tree
topper, "a luminous star inspired by gorgeous, multidimensional
snowflake photography I came across in a 1930's-vintage book," notes
Presciano. "Approximately 100 hand-fabricated snowflake ornaments of
varying sizes, with a star-like pattern and reflective hologram-like
material, complement the tree topper. Accents of gold garland,
intertwined with sparkling clear lights, drape the tree. Another
nearly 70 large ornaments in the shape of clustered golden balls and
accented with red ribbon are strategically placed at the point at
which the vertically- and horizontally-placed garland intersect. The
showy garland provides nighttime brilliance, as well as daytime
shimmer. All ornaments shine brightly with GE lights."
    Presciano points out, "For those interested in science, all of the
specially-designed ornaments are handmade and assembled from
high-technology, transparent thermoplastics known as polycarbonates
called LEXAN(R). Donated by GE Plastics of Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
one of LEXAN polycarbonates' interesting and early applications was
faceshields for astronaut helmets used in the Apollo moon flights. The
ornaments are sure to withstand the toughest of elements!"
    Encircling the National Christmas Tree are 56 smaller evergreens
-- representing the U.S. states, territories, and District of
Columbia. The trees will sparkle with thousands of multicolored,
miniature lights, also donated by GE Lighting, and feature ornaments
provided by educational and arts organizations from the states.
    Among the General Electric Company's major businesses, GE Lighting
of Cleveland and GE Plastics, headquartered in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, are global leaders in technology, manufacturing and
marketing in their industries. GE Lighting has operations in North
America, South America, Europe and Asia and produces more than 6,000
types of global lighting products. GE Plastics manufactures
high-performance materials, including engineering thermoplastics,
silicone products, specialty chemicals, petrochemicals, circuit boards
and man-made diamonds and has manufacturing facilities and technology
and innovation centers around the world.
    For more information on GE Lighting, GE Plastics, and GE, visit
web sites http://www.GELighting.com , http://www.geplastics.com , and
http://www.ge.com .