Dubbed the "World's Tallest Glass Tree," a winter attraction is back on display in a popular lake town 90 miles from Chicago.
The winter art installation is constructed using 3,000 pounds of recycled glass bottles and jars.
Glass artist, Jason Mack, crushes the glass, then uses a mobile furnace to melt it. It's then poured over a 31-foot spinning, steel structure outside Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
"By the end of the weekend, we’ll have about 1,000 pounds of glass on it. By the end of next weekend, it’ll be just about 3,000 pounds of glass on the tree," said producer Rob Elliott. "The community absolutely loves it. It’s such a fun, immersive experience."
Last year, Elliott and Mack collected over 17 tons of glass from the community.
The rest was donated to their partners at Strategic Materials Inc. to be recycled back into usable glass.
They hope to help educate the community about recycling while also putting on an entertaining show.
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"Glass is infinitely recyclable. If you put one bottle in the ground, it’ll last a million years," said Elliott. "But, if you take that bottle, crush it, melt it, and make another bottle out of it, you could do that a million times without ever losing any of the properties of the glass."
"By our collection process, we basically kept 17 tons of glass out of a landfill."
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During the event, attendees can participate in live glass-blowing and woodworking demos, steel sculpting, and shop for handmade wares and art at the Winter Market.
The "world's tallest glass tree" will be on display through Dec. 28.
