57-foot-tall homemade Christmas tree lights up Kinder

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Two Kinder men decided not to get a tree, but instead to build one of the largest Christmas trees the state of Louisiana has ever seen.

Kaleb Deaton and Donnie Domingue wanted a tree as big as they could imagine.

“Last year, we had a tree we built that was 20 feet, and this year we wanted to bring something special to the table. We came up with this 57-foot tree. We had all the supplies,” Deaton said.

The 57-foot-tall tree is lit up in their backyard, believed to be one of the largest man-made Christmas trees in Louisiana’s history

The tree is dressed with 20,000 bulbs connected to over a mile of wire and topped with an 8-foot star.

“I have some little girls, and I just love putting smiles on their faces,” Deaton said. “It’s just warming, and I wanted to do something special for them this year. Like I said, Donnie is a fabricator, and we put our heads together, and we just made it happen.”

They say they’ve been planning how big they were going to make the tree since last year.

“Our first plan was actually a 150-foot tree,” Domingue said.

It was a work in progress to be able to build the massive Christmas tree.

“It took an army to be able to put this thing up,” Deaton said. “I have a Treco in the back that has a lot of horsepower; it had to lift this baby up and Donnie’s welding machine.”

They say it looks like lots of welding, cutting, and grinding.

Since the Christmas tree has been up in Kinder, hundreds of people have come out to enjoy the holiday spectacle. They say being able to bring Christmas cheer to the area of Kinder is fulfilling.

“Oh, it’s great seeing people come line up down my driveway. I live on a dead-end road, and it’s awesome to come out and see everybody here with us. Having people talk on Facebook about what joy it’s brought to them, it’s been great,” Deaton said.

They’re already coming up with ideas on how to top next year’s tree

“We got something special, we are not going to let that out just yet, but we got something we talked about earlier. You’ll be here next year,” Deaton said.

The tree will be lit up and on display in Kinder until Jan. 6.

Copyright 2025 KPLC. All rights reserved.