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About 13-hundred Christmas trees from northern Michigan arrived at Chicago's Navy Pier on Friday. The Ninth Coast Guard District's External Affairs Office reports Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, is serving as this year's Christmas Ship, and this year marks the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the original Christmas Ship, the Rouse Simmons, off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, during a winter storm. Here is a schedule of activities today, and for a video of the Christmas Ship's arrival in Chicago, visit http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=1837791

Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012

10 a.m. – Opening ceremony, west end of Navy Pier; performances by Coast Guard silent drill team and rifle squad; a wreath laying at the Captain at the Helm Statue by Capt. Dave Truitt and the President of Chicago Shipmasters; wreath drop and fly-over by Coast Guard helicopter; music by the Taft high School Choir.

Tree off-loading from Mackinaw following ceremony.

1:30–5 p.m. – Free, public tours of Cutter Mackinaw

(Photos Courtesy of the 9th District Coast Guard)

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