December 4, 2025 • 8 mins
The World’s Tallest Glass Tree is once again going up at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It’s the centerpiece of science, art, and holiday fun that can be had the weekends of December 5-7 and 12-14, 2025. Rob Elliott and Jason Mack join host Eric Paulsen for a quick, fun, informative conversation on how they seek to break the world record yet again building this glass tree with the active help of visitors, how you can learn about the infinite possibilities of glass, and it’s all part of an artisan market with crafts, food, and fun activities both weekends. It takes place at Yerkes Observatory along Highway 67 in Williams Bay just off Geneva Lake with a free shuttle from the nearby high school. In less than 10 minutes, find out all about it right here!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Eric Paulson. Welcome to the State Trunk Tour podcast.
Another quickie for you today, because this is more of
an update on something we spoke about last year. The
world's tallest glass tree once again returns to Williams Bay
in Walworth County at Yerki's Observatory, which is the birthplace
of astrophysics, home to the world's largest refracting telescope. Beautiful building,
(00:22):
incredible observatory with an amazing history, and right in front
of it, the world's tallest glass tree is going up
as we speak. Rob Elliott and Jason Mack are two
guys building this. There's an artisan market going on this
weekend and next around the world's tallest glass tree, which,
by the way, being built with glass in front of
your eyes. You can even help build it. You can
(00:44):
contribute glass bottles, they'll melt down and add it to
the tree right there. All partially about showcasing how recyclable
glass is, but it's also something great to get you
into the holiday spirit. So we'll be talking with Rob
and Jason about that. Just what's new this year in
just a moment on the stage run tour, and once
again we're talking with Rob Elliott and Jason Mack who
(01:06):
are the geniuses I'll call it behind this World's Tallest
glass Tree. Uh, just setting world records and raising money
and doing all kinds of great stuff. Good morning, Rob
and Jason, Good morning. See they're both with me on
the phone in different spots. We're gonna be talking over
each other for the next couple of minutes and I'm
loving it. So how's it going, guys, you're you're you're
underway right. Construction in front of your keys is going
(01:28):
on right now for another edition, the fourth one of
the World's Tallest Glass Tree. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, we're gearing up for another awesome year. We're gonna
have a bigger tent this year, taller tree. Tree's gonna
be read this year. We've got some great, great collaborations
with Doosterbacks and and Low Daily. You've got some awesome,
awesome enhancements for this year's of that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So for the first time they were kind of green
and then a little bit of blue, and now the
tree is going to be red this year, so you're
varying that up. There's the second brewery involved. That's cool
because Dooster Becks was involved last year and now you
low daily out of Burlington in too.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's correct. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So you have a couple of weekends where people can
come and check out the artisan market and all the
other great stuff there at Yer Keys. Uh there December fifth, sixth,
and seventh, and then the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, So
it's two weekends in December this year, and the Star
party with with the topping is Sunday, December fourteenth. And
I assume you're going to top your previous record by
(02:27):
maybe an inch or two or is it something else.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's right. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna make it. It
grows a couple of inches every year.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So it's like a kid growing up right, Very good. Yeah,
it's like, yeah, so what's what's the latest with Matt Glass?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Jason?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I know, you know you promote in part of this
is promoting the recyclability of glass. You're encouraging people to
bring in glass bottles and you want to showcase just
how how great glass is as both a container and
a non exhaustible renewable resource.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, that's right. So one of the big things we
do with this project is kind of is raised awareness
about about glass recycling, and you know, it's kind of
a shame that a lot of it goes straight to
the landfill. So we've actually been building a commercial glass
recycling program that we're rolling out here.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Towards the end of the year and beginning of next year.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And so we kind of pair this project up with
rolling out this new commercial glass recycling program.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, is there a new partnership this year.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, we're working with a group called Don't Trash Glass
and they're a part of the Glass Packaging Institute, and
they're helping us spearhead all the logistics and drivers and
trucks that we're going to need for that glass collection program.
So it's going to be really incredible. It's going to
be a we'll do weekly pickups at bars, restaurants, hotels,
casinos all throughout the state as well as in Northern Illinois.
(03:48):
So it's really going to be an awesome thing.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So a lot of the glass that people are consuming
beverages or food out of that they'll be putting in
hopefully in after trash, but hopefully in recycling. A lot
of the bars and restaurants, you'll be able to collect
that glass and make the world's tallest glass tree out
of it and then recycle it into something people can
do that's brand new.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Right, And the world's tallest glass tree gets recycled and
do about a limited edition run of about between eight
hundred to one thousand small spun glass trees. So we
sell those commemorative trees. That helps fund the project.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
That's going to be really cool. That's part of the
artists and market this year, right, yes, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So this year we'll have a lot of blue spun
trees in the workshops, in the market and all those
blue spung trees, they're only available at the event because
there's only a limited number that we don't do online
sales or anywhere else. It's only a few event and
so we'll have a selection of the blue trees this
year that were made with the glass that we took
(04:44):
off the tree last year.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay, really cool. And again this is it's two long
weekends this year. The first full weekend of December fifth
through seventh and twelfth through fourteenth. People can once again,
I believe, park at Williams Bay School and take the
shuttle there, right, and that's free.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's correct, yep, yep, you know, buy a general admission ticket,
and something that's really cool about your ticket this year
is not only does it get you into the glass
tree event and the market and all that, but it
also gets you inside Yerkis. Eerkpiece is actually going to
be an open house scenario this year.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Your ticket also includes being able to go inside see
the newly renovated Hagino Rotunda, the Great Refractor, as well
as their gift shop. It's it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, Yerkis is such an amazing thing to have around
here and people people don't know just how remarkable it is.
So a trip there is always good. But when you
can see the world's tallest glass tree, learn about glass
and check out that artisan market in the holiday spirit,
that's even better. Uh, what's your what's your goal for
the height today? Once the star is on there, it's
like thirty six feet in something right, right?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah, we're shud proboud thirty six feet and about three
inches this year.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay, so a couple inches taller than last year. That Yeah,
you got a lot of rooms. You just make it
taller and taller each years.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
It's a good idea, yeah, exactly, unless you know, unless
we get challenged. And somebody comes and builds a forty
foot tree, then we'll have to build a forty one
foot tall tree.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well that's true.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's all about one up in each other, I suppose, right,
It's like there you go, all right? Anything else people
need to know for this fourth year that may be
different from the previous years, other than the tree has
read this year.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, the tenths are going to be bigger. We're going
to have more on site activities for the kids. We're
working with the Williams Bay Recreation Department, so they're creating
some awesome kids activities. We've got some great hot cocoa
and coffee that we're brewing up, and it's going to
be just a really great time, awesome family time out here.
Plan to come spend the day, and you know, if
(06:42):
you're coming up for the weekend, check out our website,
World's Tallestglasstree dot com. There's all kinds of hotel packages
with our local hotel partners and and all the info
you need to find it you can find at World's
Tallest Glasstree dot com.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, boy, people from out of town, you know a
lot of people stream and other places. It'd be a
great excuse to come in for a nice long holiday
weekend because you get the shuttles and you get those
hotel deals. That's nice. World's Tallest Glasstree dot com. I
want to make sure everybody gets this on their calendar
for December fifth through seventh, December twelfth through fourteenth. World's
Tallest Glass Tree back up at Yerki's Observatory and when
(07:17):
you go, make sure you say hi to these guys. Jason, Rob,
thanks for taco with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Thank you, Thanks so much day.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Thanks again to Rob Elliott and Jason Mac Jason's of
MATC Glass. You can find out more at maclass dot
com and World's Tallest Glasstree dot com has all of
those details. Follow Highway sixty seven to Williams Bay. Go
to Williams Bay High School this week internext hit the trolley.
It's a free trolley and just an amazing experience awaits
you in Williams Bay. You can also find out more
(07:46):
at State Trunk Tour dot com. Back with some quickies
about Kenosha in our next episode, things coming up there,
and then we're gonna dive into some more road trips
after that. In future episodes. Keep it right here, make
sure you subscribe, Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and more,
and of course on stage trunk tour dot com. I'm
Erek Polson. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk
(08:07):
to you next time.
Hey, it's Eric Paulson. Welcome to the State Trunk Tour podcast.
Another quickie for you today, because this is more of
an update on something we spoke about last year. The
world's tallest glass tree once again returns to Williams Bay
in Walworth County at Yerki's Observatory, which is the birthplace
of astrophysics, home to the world's largest refracting telescope. Beautiful building,
(00:22):
incredible observatory with an amazing history, and right in front
of it, the world's tallest glass tree is going up
as we speak. Rob Elliott and Jason Mack are two
guys building this. There's an artisan market going on this
weekend and next around the world's tallest glass tree, which,
by the way, being built with glass in front of
your eyes. You can even help build it. You can
(00:44):
contribute glass bottles, they'll melt down and add it to
the tree right there. All partially about showcasing how recyclable
glass is, but it's also something great to get you
into the holiday spirit. So we'll be talking with Rob
and Jason about that. Just what's new this year in
just a moment on the stage run tour, and once
again we're talking with Rob Elliott and Jason Mack who
(01:06):
are the geniuses I'll call it behind this World's Tallest
glass Tree. Uh, just setting world records and raising money
and doing all kinds of great stuff. Good morning, Rob
and Jason, Good morning. See they're both with me on
the phone in different spots. We're gonna be talking over
each other for the next couple of minutes and I'm
loving it. So how's it going, guys, you're you're you're
underway right. Construction in front of your keys is going
(01:28):
on right now for another edition, the fourth one of
the World's Tallest Glass Tree. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, we're gearing up for another awesome year. We're gonna
have a bigger tent this year, taller tree. Tree's gonna
be read this year. We've got some great, great collaborations
with Doosterbacks and and Low Daily. You've got some awesome,
awesome enhancements for this year's of that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So for the first time they were kind of green
and then a little bit of blue, and now the
tree is going to be red this year, so you're
varying that up. There's the second brewery involved. That's cool
because Dooster Becks was involved last year and now you
low daily out of Burlington in too.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's correct. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So you have a couple of weekends where people can
come and check out the artisan market and all the
other great stuff there at Yer Keys. Uh there December fifth, sixth,
and seventh, and then the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, So
it's two weekends in December this year, and the Star
party with with the topping is Sunday, December fourteenth. And
I assume you're going to top your previous record by
(02:27):
maybe an inch or two or is it something else.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's right. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna make it. It
grows a couple of inches every year.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So it's like a kid growing up right, Very good. Yeah,
it's like, yeah, so what's what's the latest with Matt Glass?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Jason?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I know, you know you promote in part of this
is promoting the recyclability of glass. You're encouraging people to
bring in glass bottles and you want to showcase just
how how great glass is as both a container and
a non exhaustible renewable resource.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, that's right. So one of the big things we
do with this project is kind of is raised awareness
about about glass recycling, and you know, it's kind of
a shame that a lot of it goes straight to
the landfill. So we've actually been building a commercial glass
recycling program that we're rolling out here.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Towards the end of the year and beginning of next year.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And so we kind of pair this project up with
rolling out this new commercial glass recycling program.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, is there a new partnership this year.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, we're working with a group called Don't Trash Glass
and they're a part of the Glass Packaging Institute, and
they're helping us spearhead all the logistics and drivers and
trucks that we're going to need for that glass collection program.
So it's going to be really incredible. It's going to
be a we'll do weekly pickups at bars, restaurants, hotels,
casinos all throughout the state as well as in Northern Illinois.
(03:48):
So it's really going to be an awesome thing.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So a lot of the glass that people are consuming
beverages or food out of that they'll be putting in
hopefully in after trash, but hopefully in recycling. A lot
of the bars and restaurants, you'll be able to collect
that glass and make the world's tallest glass tree out
of it and then recycle it into something people can
do that's brand new.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Right, And the world's tallest glass tree gets recycled and
do about a limited edition run of about between eight
hundred to one thousand small spun glass trees. So we
sell those commemorative trees. That helps fund the project.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
That's going to be really cool. That's part of the
artists and market this year, right, yes, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So this year we'll have a lot of blue spun
trees in the workshops, in the market and all those
blue spung trees, they're only available at the event because
there's only a limited number that we don't do online
sales or anywhere else. It's only a few event and
so we'll have a selection of the blue trees this
year that were made with the glass that we took
(04:44):
off the tree last year.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay, really cool. And again this is it's two long
weekends this year. The first full weekend of December fifth
through seventh and twelfth through fourteenth. People can once again,
I believe, park at Williams Bay School and take the
shuttle there, right, and that's free.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's correct, yep, yep, you know, buy a general admission ticket,
and something that's really cool about your ticket this year
is not only does it get you into the glass
tree event and the market and all that, but it
also gets you inside Yerkis. Eerkpiece is actually going to
be an open house scenario this year.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Your ticket also includes being able to go inside see
the newly renovated Hagino Rotunda, the Great Refractor, as well
as their gift shop. It's it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, Yerkis is such an amazing thing to have around
here and people people don't know just how remarkable it is.
So a trip there is always good. But when you
can see the world's tallest glass tree, learn about glass
and check out that artisan market in the holiday spirit,
that's even better. Uh, what's your what's your goal for
the height today? Once the star is on there, it's
like thirty six feet in something right, right?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah, we're shud proboud thirty six feet and about three
inches this year.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay, so a couple inches taller than last year. That Yeah,
you got a lot of rooms. You just make it
taller and taller each years.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
It's a good idea, yeah, exactly, unless you know, unless
we get challenged. And somebody comes and builds a forty
foot tree, then we'll have to build a forty one
foot tall tree.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well that's true.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's all about one up in each other, I suppose, right,
It's like there you go, all right? Anything else people
need to know for this fourth year that may be
different from the previous years, other than the tree has
read this year.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, the tenths are going to be bigger. We're going
to have more on site activities for the kids. We're
working with the Williams Bay Recreation Department, so they're creating
some awesome kids activities. We've got some great hot cocoa
and coffee that we're brewing up, and it's going to
be just a really great time, awesome family time out here.
Plan to come spend the day, and you know, if
(06:42):
you're coming up for the weekend, check out our website,
World's Tallestglasstree dot com. There's all kinds of hotel packages
with our local hotel partners and and all the info
you need to find it you can find at World's
Tallest Glasstree dot com.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, boy, people from out of town, you know a
lot of people stream and other places. It'd be a
great excuse to come in for a nice long holiday
weekend because you get the shuttles and you get those
hotel deals. That's nice. World's Tallest Glasstree dot com. I
want to make sure everybody gets this on their calendar
for December fifth through seventh, December twelfth through fourteenth. World's
Tallest Glass Tree back up at Yerki's Observatory and when
(07:17):
you go, make sure you say hi to these guys. Jason, Rob,
thanks for taco with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Thank you, Thanks so much day.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Thanks again to Rob Elliott and Jason Mac Jason's of
MATC Glass. You can find out more at maclass dot
com and World's Tallest Glasstree dot com has all of
those details. Follow Highway sixty seven to Williams Bay. Go
to Williams Bay High School this week internext hit the trolley.
It's a free trolley and just an amazing experience awaits
you in Williams Bay. You can also find out more
(07:46):
at State Trunk Tour dot com. Back with some quickies
about Kenosha in our next episode, things coming up there,
and then we're gonna dive into some more road trips
after that. In future episodes. Keep it right here, make
sure you subscribe, Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and more,
and of course on stage trunk tour dot com. I'm
Erek Polson. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk
(08:07):
to you next time.
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