Laura Glesby Photo
Holiday spirit uprooted Monday on the Green.
As the pandemic ramps up again, apparently even the weather wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit — as a storm toppled the city Christmas Tree on the Green.
Sunday evening’s rainstorm raged through New Haven with fierce winds that reached 58 miles per hour, causing 4,000 power outages throughout the city as well as toppling the tree.
According to an update from Mayor Justin Elicker, the power has been restored throughout the city. But on Monday, the coniferous tree remained collapsed in a tangle of colorful string lights that no longer lit up. A cylindrical hole in the ground was visible where the tree used to stand.
According to Parks, Recreation, and Trees Director Bill Carone, the tree will need to be replaced. He wrote in an email that the department is currently working on a plan to do so.
On Monday, passersby paused to capture the fallen tree on their phones. Many took the scene as a not-too-subtle metaphor for the pandemic’s disruption of planned communal gatherings this holiday season.
“It’s like a sign,” observed Colleen Cunningham. She said she’s currently homeless and won’t be able to see her son this holiday season. “It’s different times. Christmas isn’t like it used to be.”
Rob Forman doesn’t plan to celebrate the holidays in the midst of the growing pandemic. “I don’t,” he said. “I just don’t.”
He said that in addition to Covid-19, he’s concerned about how increasingly capricious weather patterns reflect climate change.
He said he could hear the storm “whipping against the windows” of his home last night.
Meanwhile, Dean Allen’s family is getting creative in finding ways to safely celebrate Thanksgiving. Each family member is cooking a different dish and delivering it to the others’ homes, he said. Then, they’ll all gather for a virtual communal meal over Zoom.
Robert Dempsey isn’t quite sure how he’ll celebrate the holiday season, after several relatives expressed concerns about the spread of Covid-19.
But he didn’t read too much into the tree’s collapse.
“They must have not put it deep enough,” he said with a shrug.
Were the winds really that strong,or was the tree improperly secured? That hole doesn't look particularly deep.