David Brooks and crew spent a solid eight hour day building Gloucester’s famous lobster trap tree, the one and only lobster trap Christmas tree decorated with hand painted buoys by local children and artists. They will be returning tomorrow to finish up, weather permitting. Lending a hand this afternoon when I stopped by to take snapshots were Mark Schlichte, Shawn Henry, Jake Hennessey, Peter Asaro, Jason Burroughs, and David Brooks. If you see these guys around town, let them know how awesome you think they are!

The exciting news is that this year we will be enjoying COLORED lights!!! Although white holiday lights are wonderful and beautiful, it just seems to me that colored lights on our lobster trap tree are more festive and compliment better the hand painted buoys. For the past several years, the tree was decorated with white lights and I am glad to see they are mixing it up with colored lights this year. What is your personal preference?

Did you know that it costs approximately $800.00 for lights each year? The cost seems relatively modest when you think about the delight and wonderment this most unique of holiday trees and accompanying buoy painting brings to our community. If you would like to help with the expense of the lights, please contact David Brooks at 978-335-2219. Thank you!

This year’s tree lighting takes place on December 8th, from 4:30 to 5pm.