NEWBURYPORT — The Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s leader is praising the quick work of the Department of Public Services, as well as a local family, who pooled their resources and replaced a snapped Christmas tree in the Market Square bullnose last week.
“They saved Christmas,” Nate Allard said.
For years, the Chamber, along with the Department of Public Services and Atlantic Crane Service installs a roughly 40-foot Christmas tree in the Market Square bullnose.
Over the past few holiday seasons, the tree has been donated by either a local family or Bob Colby of Colby Farms. Colby trucked this year’s and last year’s trees down from upstate New York. This year’s 45-foot tree arrived in the bullnose last Thursday morning at about 5 a.m.
But the installation plan went haywire when Allard heard a disturbing sound coming from the truck hauling the tree.
“The tree had been all strung up and was ready to be lifted. Then I heard a pop,” he said. “It turns out it had snapped in half from the central trunk like a toothpick. None of us walked over to the tree all that quickly because we were all hoping it wasn’t what we thought it was.”
DPS general foreman Ron Keefe said his workers could have used metal rods to try and save the shrub but it wouldn’t have been safe.
“We made the executive decision, right then and there to scrap it,” he said.
Dry conditions this fall, Allard said, have led to weak trees not only in Greater Newburyport but for much of the region.
“A lot of people are having issues with trees because of the drought,” he said. “So we’re assuming that, along with this tree which had several trunks spinning out of it, that kept it from being able to be lifted.”
The next thing Allard and the DPS workers knew, they needed to find a new Christmas tree as soon as possible.
“We were all standing there asking, ‘where in the world do we get a 40-foot tree in the next two days?’” Allard said.
Keefe, as well as DPS operations manager Jennifer Sullivan, immediately jumped on the phone to come up with an alternative tree plan, according to Allard.
Within the next three hours, Allard said the pair were able to source a new tree from the home of Turkey Hill Road residents Sarah and David Adams.
Roughly two hours after that, DPS workers, Colby and Atlantic Crane descended upon the Adams’ house, where they cut and then hauled the new roughly 38-to-40-foot Norway spruce away.
“The family actually had two trees and Jen said she thought she could get them to donate at least one of them to us,” he said. “We got their blessing. The crane and truck were still in town, so we went out there in a downpour of rain.”
Keefe praised the work of city’s tree foreman, Lance Rickard, who used a bucket truck to help get the tree out of the ground.
Sarah Adams said she and her family were happy to help.
“We have three young kids and it was a fun day,” she said. “My youngest son, Benson was born on Christmas so it felt right to be able to do this.”
The locally sourced timber was scheduled to be installed in the Market Square bullnose early Saturday morning.
Allard said the Christmas tree is typically installed in the early morning hours to avoid traffic.
“The tree has to be lifted at least 15 feet in the air to swing over the other trees,” he said. “But DPS and Atlantic do a great job, every year.”
Keefe said the new tree is the best looking one he has seen in a very long time.
“It’s miniaturized version of the tree in (New York’s) Rockefeller Center,” he said. “It is absolutely gorgeous.”
The tree also needs time to spread its branches as well as be decorated before the lights are turned on during the Newburyport Rotary Club’s annual Santa Parade and Tree Lighting ceremony. This year’s party takes place on Sunday, Dec. 1, beginning at 3 p.m when Santa and Mrs. Claus arrives inside a Coast Guard craft. The tree is expected to be fired up around 4:30 p.m.
This year’s tree will be dedicated in honor of the late Partridge in a Bear Tree owner Kevin Riley who passed away in August after an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, the following weekend is expected to be a bonanza for local retailers, according to Allard.
Although Black Friday isn’t as important in the city as it may be at big box stores across the country, Allard said what the Chamber calls Small Business Saturday has proven to be a big hit in Newburyport.
That and the annual tree lighting ceremony draws hundreds of people to the area and gets the holiday season started off on the right foot.
“Activities like this are so important to our retailers, our service providers and our restaurants in the downtown as well as the Greater Newburyport region,” Allard said. “We try our best and we bring a crowd.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.