Topping out

The 'topping out' ceremony for the building I'm working on occurred a few weeks ago. This is one of the significant public milestones in the creation of a building, along with ground breaking. Topping out is a celebration of placing the last beam in place, and usually indicates the full height of the building, hence the etymology. As a part of the tradition, people sign the beam, which is painted white, and it is craned up into place with an American flag on one end and a Christmas tree on the other. It's from an old Scandinavian pagan custom of appeasing the local spirits.

We didn't really have a ground breaking, because due to the demolition of an older building on the same site, we had a giant hole in the ground already.

You can read more about the ceremony here. Click the image for larger.