MANITOWOC — They're seasonal and sparkly. Space age. Campy. Nostalgic. Collectible.

They're aluminum Christmas trees, once made in Manitowoc and beloved from coast to coast, now dusted off and enjoyed anew.

The Manitowoc County Historical Society will open a display of aluminum trees at its Manitowoc County Heritage Center on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

The exhibit, "Tis the Season; A Celebration of the Aluminum Tree" will run through Friday, Feb. 2.

"The trees are really great tools for reviving childhood memories for a lot of people because everyone who comes through the door and sees the exhibit coming together says, 'I remember we had a gold one,' " said Sarah VanLanduyt, executive director of the Manitowoc County Historical Society.

Even her mother, who lives in Kansas, recalled the family owning a silver one with a colored light wheel that turned the tree different colors. Unfortunately, she didn't hang on to it, VanLanduyt said.

The exhibit in the Robert and Audrey Niquette Changing Exhibit Gallery will include nine trees from museum and private collections.

There will be 2-foot, 4-foot and 6-foot trees in green, pink and silver. One will have a colored light wheel. The trees will not be decorated.

"The trees themselves will be the centerpiece of the exhibit," said VanLanduyt. "It's not going to be hugely interpretive, (the exhibit will) just to show off the pretty sparkling Christmas trees. It's more an exhibit to celebrate the Christmas season and highlight the trees, which have made their way back to popular culture."

The exhibit was inspired by the huge success of the 2004 book "Season's Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree" by Manitowoc photographers John Shimon and Julie Lindemann, VanLanduyt said.

The book focused national media attention not only on the book and its creators, but also on the trees and Manito-woc, where the most popular model, the Evergleam, was made by the Aluminum Specialty Co. in the 1960s.

The trees now are being sold at antique stores and online auctions.

One of the trees in the exhibit is on loan from Jim Steckmesser, owner with his wife, Dawn, of the Timeless Treasures store in Manitowoc.

"It was just something I had picked up at an estate sale many years ago," he said of the 2-foot silver tree. "The trees were a fad for a while and then faded away. It went from a fad to a fond memory.

"When people first started getting rid of them, they were easier to find, but not anymore."

Since his first aluminum Christmas tree purchase, Steckmesser has managed to acquired three more for his personal collection and has used them to decorate his home and store.

Jerry Waak, who formerly worked for the Alumi-num Specialty Co., shared his knowledge of how the trees were sold and loaned the museum two Evergleams for the exhibit, VanLanduyt said.

Others who contributed included Margie Schramm, who shared her experiences making Evergleam trees and loaned a tree to the exhibit, and Lisa Genske, who shared knowledge of the present-day aluminum Christmas tree market.

The Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison also was a resource, providing its previous research on Evergleam tree history and loaning three trees, VanLanduyt said.

The society's Wisconsin Historical Museum put on an aluminum tree exhibit last year.

"It was very popular," said Joe Kapler of the exhibit. He is museum curator for the society.

Some visitors had their pictures taken in front of the trees and others wanted to buy trees from the museum's collection, Kapler said with a laugh.

The Manitowoc County Historical Society owns a 4-foot silver tree and hopes to expand its collection.

"We're hoping that the exhibit not only shares the story of the aluminum Christmas tree, but that people who see the exhibit might want to donate one of the trees from their collections to the museum. After all, this is the hometown. This is where they were made," VanLanduyt said.

"We're not just interested in collecting trees, we're interested in collecting stories, whether (people) made the tree, whether they had one growing up or whether they're new collectors."

Suzanne Weiss: 920-686-2140 or sweiss@htrnews.com