A New Christmas Tree

For Ram Pasture

By Nancy K. Crevier

It looks like it truly could be Christmas in July — or maybe even June.

On Tuesday evening, May 20, members of the Newtown Village Cemetery Association granted a request by the Christmas Tree Committee, consisting of Janet Woycik, Diana Johnson, Stan Perrone, and Dan Dalton, to plant a 35-foot white spruce tree in Ram Pasture to replace the giant spruce toppled by high winds in March.

The tree that was felled by the windstorm had been the centerpiece for the annual town tree lighting sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Newtown for more than 25 years, and it was feared by many residents that the lack of a suitably tall Christmas tree could be the death knell for the yearly celebration in Ram Pasture.

“I think it’s great. The tree lighting is a wonderful tradition and the consensus of the association was that everyone wanted [the tree lighting] back at Ram Pasture,” said Maureen Owen, president of the Newtown Village Cemetery Association, which owns Ram Pasture.

The white spruce has been donated by local resident Wayne Adessi and will be moved within the next six weeks from Mr Adessi’s Old Farm Hill Road property to Ram Pasture, said Christmas Tree Committee spokesperson Janet Woycik. “Several residents offered us trees to replace the one that fell,” she said, “and the committee spent a Saturday looking at the trees. We felt this white spruce was the ideal tree,” she said.

Christmas Tree Committee member Stan Perrone of Kesco Electric will install a new underground electrical system extending to the new tree from the existing service location, said Ms Woycik, and committee member Dan Dalton of Growing Solutions will oversee the moving and planting of the tree.

The new tree will be place a bit farther to the left of the location where the old tree stood, as one faces the cemetery from Elm Drive, in order to provide a better growing location, Ms Woycik said. A guy wire will anchor it securely for the first growing season.

“We are so excited to do this. People of Newtown will be very pleased, I think,” said Ms Woycik. “We want to thank the Newtown Village Cemetery Association for saying ‘yes’ to our request, and of course, we want to thank Mr Adessi for the beautiful tree.”