Sending best, best wishes to Aimee and David Brooks on the birth of their beautiful baby girl Naia Rumi Brooks. David and Aimee could not be present at the Lobster Trap Tree lighting with new baby born the night before, but we all want to thank David, Shawn Henry, the extraordinary Lobster Trap Tree building crew, Art Haven’s Traci Thayne Corbett and the sweetest buoy painters for their glorious gift to Gloucester.
Wishing the Brooks Family a lifetime of love, happiness, and joy.
The Lobster Trap Christmas tree taking shape, from measuring and laying out the circumference, offloading traps from Makin Movers, to securing the traps while building round and round, level by level; it’s a fantastic day for the community. Thank you Lobster Trap Christmas Tree build Crew!
If you would like to join the team next year, please visit The Lobster Trap Tree website to sign up. There is also a portal to donate to help with recurring expenses such as lights, and information if you would like to become a sponsor.
The Crew: Top row left to right -Tyler Rogers, Emre Kayadibi, Peter Asaro, David Brooks, Jonathan Cooney, Andrew Nicastro, Shawn Henry, Jesse Dole, Oliver Brooks, and Daniel Brooks.
Bottom row left to right – Nichole Frontiero, Christian Maki, Nard Doyle, Steve Allwood, Pietro Cannavo, David DeAngelis, Jose Leland, Josh Oliver, and Steve Larkin
Not pictured are Bryanna Porter, David Pratt, Rob Moran, and Miriam Brooks
SAVE the DATE: The Lobster Trap Christmas Tree Lighting is December 14th, 4:30 to 5pm.
Check out the Lobster Trap Christmas Tree’s brand new website at thelobstertraptree.org. The website was a donation from, and built by, Andrew Nicastro of the live stream and AV production company Streamography.
On the new website you will find links to the buoy painting schedule at Art Haven, how to be a sponsor, how to join the team, and how to donate to help with annual recurring costs (lights!).
There is also a portal to submit your Lobster Trap Christmas Tree photos, new and vintage!
This is the second year in a row that the Lobster Trap Christmas Tree is located at Solomon Jacob’s Landing.
Video of the Lobster Trap Christmas Tree Build
Incredible Crew! I think this is the biggest tree yet. From early morning til after sunset, this crew worked throughout the day to build The World’s Best Lobster Trap Tree!!
Love everyone’s big smiles, a joy to photograph. Lots more photos coming <3
The Crew: Top row left to right -Tyler Rogers, Emre Kayadibi, Peter Asaro, David Brooks, Jonathan Cooney, Andrew Nicastro, Shawn Henry, Jesse Dole, Oliver Brooks, and Daniel Brooks.
Bottom row left to right – Nichole Frontiero, Christian Maki, Nard Doyle, Steve Allwood, Pietro Cannavo, David DeAngelis, Jose Leland, Josh Oliver, and Steve Larkin
Not pictured are Bryanna Porter, David Pratt, Rob Moran, and Miriam Brooks
Keep cozy on this longest night of the year, and throughout the season <3
David Brooks and Jim Knott
Riverdale Mills CEO, Jim Knott, Jr., was in attendance at Saturday evening’s wondrous Lobster Trap Tree lighting. Mr. Knott generously donated the 400 traps used in creating the 2023 Lobster Trap Tree. The gift of 400 traps is permanent and will be used in the building of future trap trees. 400 trees were donated to symbolize Gloucester’s 400th anniversary.
Additionally, the labor for building the 400 traps was donated by Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston, Maine, and contributions were made by Three Lantern Marine Fishing and Supply, Gloucester.
Jim Knott, as quoted in the Gloucester Daily Times, “We’re here for the lobstermen, and we’re trying to support both the current event and the future,” he said. “The reason for the donation is that we wanted to help the community out. The lobster fishing industry is a big part of our business and we have a long history in the lobster industry making wire mesh that was invented in Gloucester. My father has two patents that date back to the 1960s and that wire mesh supplanted wood almost completely (for lobster traps).”
The wire mesh, called Aquamesh, that you see inside modern lobster traps, was invented by Jim’s Dad, James Knott, Sr. He spent summers on Cape Ann with his family, fishing for lobsters during his teenage years. Mr. Knott knew there had to be a better lobster trap. Since the mid-1960s, he “had been tinkering with designs for wire lobster traps. The traditional wooden traps were buoyant and needed to be weighed down with bricks or rocks to sink. Once immersed, they became water logged and extremely heavy. They also wore out more quickly than metal cages.” James Knott converted an abandoned mill on the banks of the Blackstone River, in Northbridge, Massachusetts, which had been used to manufacture bayonets during the Civil War, and founded Riverdale Mills to manufacture coated wire and Aquamesh.
For more information read here:
The Wall Street Journal: James Knott Pioneered Modern Lobster Traps and fended off the EPA
Worcester Business Journal: The Backbone of Lobster Traps
Gloucester daily Times by Gail McCarthy: Gloucester’s Lobster Trap Tree Grows
World’s Best Lobster Trap Tree!
Lobster Trap Tree buoy painting is underway! Cape Ann kids are hand painting buoys to adorn the Lobster Trap tree with. So much beauty found in these proud, earnest little faces <3.
To sign up for buoy painting, please visit the Cape Ann Art haven website here: https://www.arthaven.org/
The Lobster Trap Tree is located at Solomon Jacobs Park, at Harbor Loop, in between the Coast Guard Station and Maritime Gloucester. The tree lighting takes place this coming Saturday, December 9th at 4:30pm, after the Middle Street Walk.
For a complete list of events for the Middle Street Walk, please click here.
To celebrate Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, 400 brand new lobster traps were donated by Riverdale Mills. Read more about the background of the Lobster Trap Tree and Three Lantern Marine Supply’s program, which will allow youth to obtain student lobstering permits, at the Gloucester Daily Times.
This morning’s gentle snowfall on the harbor.
“Purple Snowflakes” by Marvin Gaye
The Lobster Trap Tree is located at Solomon Jacobs Park, at Harbor Loop, in between the Coast Guard Station and Maritime Gloucester. Youth from around Cape Ann are painting buoys to decorate the tree with. The tree lighting takes place this coming Saturday, December 9th at 4:30pm, after the Middle Street Walk.
For a complete list of events for the Middle Street Walk, please click here.
To celebrate Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, 400 brand new lobster traps were donated by Riverdale Mills. Read more about the background of the Lobster Trap Tree and Three Lantern Marine Supply’s program that will allow youth to obtain student lobstering permits at the Gloucester Daily Times.
The photos from the Lobster Trap Tree build were taken late Friday afternoon, where you can see the footprint of the tree beginning to take shape, through Saturday, when most of the building took place, and into Sunday morning, when the crew was installing the lights.
Lots of friends and family stopped by to check on the tree’s progress. That’s David’s wife and their three kids and David’s sister with her kids looking up at the tree top, and also ‘helping’ Shawn.
Shout out again to David Brooks, Shawn Henry, and the wonderfully dedicated tree building crew – Shane O’Neill, Dave D’Angelis, Peter Asaro, Devin Carr, John Cooney, Andrew Nicastro, Steve Larkin, Dave Pratt, and Peter Cannavo.
The Lobster Trap Tree is located at Solomon Jacobs Park, at Harbor Loop, in between the Coast Guard Station and Maritime Gloucester. Youth from around Cape Ann are painting buoys to decorate the tree with. The tree lighting takes place after the Middle Street Walk on Saturday December 9th at 4:30pm.
For a complete list of events for the Middle Street Walk, please click here.
The Lobster Trap Tree build in its new location at Solomon Jacobs Park was a resounding success. David Brooks and Shawn Henry led the team from early morning, until the last rays of light. We’re creating a longer video, but here is a brief window of the up and down and up and down climbing that it takes to get those traps up to the tippy top of the tree.
The tree’s new location at Solomon Jacobs Park at Harbor Loop has proven to be a win win for the tree builders. There is plenty of space to organize the traps and lay out the lights. This year’s tree is bigger by about 40 traps, with not two, but three, doorways leading in and out of the tree. Not only is the visitor’s view fabulously beautiful, folks that live and work on the harbor will have a spectacular view of the tree as well.
To celebrate Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, 400 brand new lobster traps were donated by Riverdale Mills. Read more about the background of the Lobster Trap Tree and Three Lantern Marine Supply’s program that will allow youth to obtain student lobstering permits to use the traps here at the Gloucester Daily Times
To sign-up for buoy painting, please go here: https://www.arthaven.org/
Gloucester’s Lobster Trap Tree Lighting takes place Saturday, December 9th, at 4:30pm