The Lobster Trap Tree looks extra splendid in fresh fallen snow!
Please share your Lobster Trap Tree photos by tagging @lobstertraptree on Facebook. Our fun funky tree has a way of lifting people’s spirits and the community would love to see your snapshots. Thank you!
If you are not on Facebook, feel free to email your photos to me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com and I will post them for you.
Love this new rocking Christmas song by Telamor!
With thanks to David Brooks, Shawn Henry, Three Lanterns, Traci Thayne Corbett, Cape Ann Art Haven, Jason Burroughs, Gregg Cademartori, David DeAngelis, Andrew Nicastro, Josh Oliver, George Schlichte, Gloucester Fire Department, Mayor Sefatia Romeo-Theken, Ken Riehl, Jill Cahill, and the Buoy Painters.
Music by Telamor – “Christmas Party,” permission granted by the artist
When you post on Facebook, simply tag us at @lobstertraptree and your photos will go directly to The Lobster Trap Tree Facebook page. Thank you so much <3
Despite a major power outage earlier in the afternoon, Sunday evening’s Lobster Trap Tree lighting went off without a hitch. Gloucester’s Fire Department arrived right on schedule. Using an aerial ladder, the firemen hoisted the star to the tippy top of the tree, where Shawn Henry was waiting to secure. Ten, nine, eight… Mayor Sefatia gave the virtual countdown and the vibrantly colored buoys and lights shone brightly.
The Lobster Trap Tree is a very special tradition for our community and we are especially grateful to David Brooks and Shawn Henry for their continued dedication in building, organizing, and sharing through Shawn’s films, particularly during the global pandemic
I love that the tree’s star is currently switched to alternating between colorful and white lights, simply wonderful!
Snapshots of Shawn Henry and David Brooks installing buoys today.
Virtual Lobster Trap Tree Lighting – Sunday, December 13th at 4:30
Since we can’t gather and celebrate this wonderful tradition together, let’s jump on Facebook and be together virtually. Thanks to Good Morning Gloucester and the crew from Gloucestercast, they will be bringing to you live – Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, Ken Riehl from the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and the Gloucester Fire Department as they light the Lobster Trap Tree. This tradition is made possible by the Lobster Trap Tree volunteers, Three Lanterns Marine and Fishing and Cape Ann Art Haven. Please do not come to this area of downtown as we do not want a gathering during this very critical time.
VIEW THE LIGHTING LIVE ON THE LOBSTER TRAP TREE FACEBOOK PAGE.
Check out this super fun time lapse video of the 2020 Gloucester Lobster Trap Tree Build from Shawn Henry!
With thanks and deep appreciation to Three Lanterns
Tree Builders: David Brooks, Jason Burroughs, Gregg Cademartori, Dave DeAngelis, Shawn G. Henry, Andrew Nicastro, Josh Oliver, and George Schlichte
Hi Friends, If you take a photo of the Lobster Trap Tree and post on Facebook, we would love to share with the community. Please tag us with our new username @lobstertraptree. Thank you!
In response to lots of questions, David Brooks and Shawn Henry share that it appears as though there are enough lights in stock leftover from previous years! This is great news as most of us are on a tighter budget and lighting stocks are running low.
As soon as the lights and buoys are in place, the tree lighting will take place sometime this week, depending on the weather. Because of the global pandemic, the tree lighting will be a virtual tree lighting, hosted by Mayor Sefatia. Stay tuned for time and date!
Follow The Lobster Trap Tree on Facebook for all the latest updates <3
Thank you so much for your interest in The Family Porch-Rait Project!!
This whole fundraiser could not have gone any more spectacularly. We initially thought we’d get a little interest and raise a little money. Instead, we got tremendous interest and we raised A LOT of money – as of right now, over $18,000 is going to help provide much needed food to members of our community in The Open Door service area. This amazing organization has seen a massive spike in need because of the Covid-19 crisis and the subsequent job losses and layoffs and, with your help, has risen to meet that need.
Unfortunately, all that success means that we’ve reached absolute saturation point and can no longer accept any more requests. By the time we’re finished with our existing requests and schedule, we will have photographed nearly 200 families. We know this is disappointing, but we have to draw this fundraiser to a close.
While we can’t accommodate a photo session, the need by The Open Door remains extreme and on-going. If you’d like to donate anyway, please know that your contribution will go directly towards relieving food insecurity to, literally, your neighbors, friends and relatives. Please consider making a donation of any size to help this effort. DONATE HERE
Thank you, and again we regret the disappointment, but deeply appreciate the amazing community support!
Best
The Family Porch-Rait Project Crew
Bill Sumner, Jason Grow, Shawn Henry, Paul Cary Goldberg, Normanda Newport, Hannah Sumner
Photos from Saturday evening’s tree lighting event, including several of Traci Thayne Corbett, Art Haven’s director, and her super helpers Lily and Cee Cee. Traci is the person who helps the kids in creating all the fabulous hand painted buoys that adorn the tree.
Traci, Lily, and Cee Cee
Tremendous thanks and huge shout outs to David Brooks, Shawn Henry, Traci Corbett, Warren Waugh, Cape Ann Art Haven, Three Lantern Marine Fishing, Great Marsh Brewing Co, Gloucester Fire Department, the City of Gloucester, and to all the great people volunteering their time and money towards continuing this fabulous and uniquely Gloucester tradition <3
David Brooks, also known as Spider Man, securing the star atop the tree.
The polling has shown fairly consistently that approximately 60 percent are in favor of multi-colored lights and 40 percent favor warm white lights.
The final number as of 6pm tonight is that of the 1,605 people who participated, 58.75 percent voted for multi-colored lights and 39.31 percent voted for warm white lights (1.9 percent voted for other).
Thank you so much to Everyone for voting!!!
By noon today the super dedicated Lobster Trap Tree building team had made great headway. With snow predicted for tomorrow, the crew plans to have the tree built by day’s end. Don’t let the photos deceive; Shawn Henry was wearing shorts but it was frigid at noon and only getting colder as the day progressed.
Many thanks to Three Lanterns Marine for providing the 360 lobster traps required to construct the tree.
Mayor Sefatia and granddaughters, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce CEO Ken Riehl, and Gloucester’s Economic Development Director Sal Di Stefano and his wife Maria (and kids), all stopped by to check on the tree’s progress while they were out shopping local for Small Business Saturday.
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?
