Vandals Can’t Kill
Xmas In Kimberly Sq.

Vandals who attacked the Kimberly Square Christmas tree last week were no match for neighbors like ​“Slim” who helped straighten and re-decorate what’s become a symbol of the Hill’s community spirit.

For the past eight holiday seasons the annual Kimberly Square Christmas tree has been enjoyed and undisturbed, said Kris Sainsbury, head of the Hill/City Point Neighborhood Action Group.

She and two neighbors, Kampton Singh and Paul Larrivee, have organized the placement of the tree that has graced the square, appreciated and safe, well into each new year.

After a festive eighth annual dedication and lighting on Dec.3, Kimberly Square’s tree twinkled away peacefully for a week and a half — until last Wednesday.

“We like to think it was the wind” that knocked the tree off center, Sainsbury said. She did not want to think of people in the neighborhood doing other than respecting and enjoying the tree as they have done for going on a decade.

Alas, when she received calls last from merchants on the square, she learned otherwise. Gem Liquors manager Tejas Patel said he called Sainsbury as soon as he arrived at work. It was clear to him that the tree had been attacked and that the damage was not done by an evil wind.

Singh noted that other trees in town, including the tree on the Green, were attacked recently, too.

Although no one saw the deed being done, several neighbors involved in restoring the tree speculated that vandals were trying to swipe the metal framed star atop the tree.

The star, which had been attached to the top of the tree by another of the tree tradition stalwarts, Paul Larrivee, simply refused to be stolen.

In the process of going after the star, the vandals left the tree, a balsam contributed by the Urban Resources Initiative, knocked over at a 30-degree angle. Several ornaments were crushed and at least one wire holding a circle of white bulbs was cut.

That was last Wednesday. Between then and Thursday, various area residents on their own made attempts to right the tree and to fix the star and ornaments.

Angela Hatley, who lives nearby on Greenwich Avenue, was driving by on Saturday when she saw two women with a ladder trying to fix the listing tree.

“I had to stop the car and help. It was devastating. It’s our community tree for years, and no one has touched it,” she said.

Although Hatley did not get their names, she said the women working on the tree live nearby, across from Ascension Church on Lamberton and Howard. The women had gone to the church and borrowed a ladder to climb up and fix the bent star.

“I told them how impressed I was. They considered it a community tree. Those two women are the best type of neighbor to take it upon themselves. They have pride. They were unsung heroes,” Hatley said.

Sainsbury said the women returned on Sunday to replace the torn garlands and to start the redecoration.

The various volunteer fixers were able to bend the star back to its correct position and to replace decorations, but the tree remained listing.

A six-foot-four-inch neighbor who asked to be identified only as ​“Slim” said, ​“We didn’t have the manpower to straighten the tree.”

That power arrived Thursday afternoon. Singh, an area landlord with truck and ladders, arrived with his helpers Steven Singh and Peter DeFreitas.

He took a look at the listing tree and said that it suffered only what he described as a little ​“nose dive.”

Singh deployed the crew and put Slim on a rope. After a few yanks, the tree was straight again.

Slim and several other regulars around the square picked up shards of broken ornaments.

Then people stood back and admired their handiwork. ​“The star is even better now,” said Sainsbury, as the dozens of little bulbs attached to the frame, which had refused to be detached from the tree, began to light up.

A friend of Slim said that Singh is Santa Claus.

Singh laughed and replied, ​“We’re trying to make the neighborhood a better place.”

On Wednesday night, the community had gathered at the Wilson Branch Library for the annual Hill North and Hill South Managment Team meeting and holiday party.

Singh, Sainsbury, and Larrivee each had received an official aldermanic certificate of appreciation presented by Hill Alderman Jorge Perez for their work over the years in sustaining the Kimberly Square Christmas tree tradition.

Sainsbury said that if there were a silver lining to the incident, it showed how much ordinary people in the area care about the tree. On their own and unsung, they refused to let the tree languish unattended.

She pointed out that it was not only individuals but about a dozen businesses — from C‑Town to Pepe’s Market to Gem Liquor — who contribute financially to the upkeep of the Kimberly tree tradition.