Saturday, November 26, 2016

PTown Lobster Pot Tree Lights Up Tonight

Provincetown's famous Lobster Pot Christmas Tree  dominates
Lopes Square, lighting up for the holiday season tonight at 5:30.
10 years ago artist Julian Popko had an idea for a holiday display he wanted to build in the heart of Provincetown. In a nod to the local fishing community he assembled a sort of Christmas tree from actual, working lobster traps, called lobster pots, stacked in a pyramid.
112 of them are layered between sheets of plywood to stabilize the structure, which now rises around the giant anchor in Lopes Square every holiday season.
I'm writing this around noon on Saturday, as this year's festive structure is being finished, and I'm watching the process online at www.provincetown view.com, the webcam trained on Lopes Square. Folks are climbing this giant work of art, putting the last details in place for the lighting ceremony tonight, which we're all invited to attend.
Typically, cookies and hot cocoa are served while people gather, waiting to see the lights come on, illuminating the Lobster Pot Tree for the season. This annual event is scheduled tonight at 5:30 PM, when the "tree topper" of lobster buoys and lights will be lowered into place, lighting this charming display. You'll want to get there early to get a good vantage spot and enjoy the refreshments.
These 112 lobster pots are on loan from local lobstermen, decorated with 120 bright red bows and 46 red plastic lobsters, not to mention the 3,400 lights that will light up this giant sculpture nightly through January. If you can't make it this evening, you can find several YouTube videos of a Lobster Pot Tree lighting from various years gone by. You'll also enjoy this spot by day or by night, simply by walking past Lopes Square, where Standish Street and Commercial Street meet.
With the Pilgrim Monument lighting the night before Thanksgiving every year, and the Lobster Pot Tree lighting the following Saturday, PTown officially kicks off the holiday season. Come join us!

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