Small group of people brave the rain to gather at the gazebo and celebrate the life of a willow tree that has been in place for more than 70 years.

By Pepper Parr

June 7th, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

It was a decision that the public didn’t have much of an opportunity to say anything about.

The huge willow trees just a couple of yards to the west of the bottom of Brant Street in Spencer Smith Park were deemed to be unsafe.

It was a small meeting – the weather kept most people away. The size didn’t detract from the significance. The massive willow tree in the foreground will come down and at some point in the future the gazebo will get rebuilt to make it fully accessible.

The force driving that decision was the Sound of Music – they are apparently going to be holding events in that part of the park and the idea of a branch falling into a small crowd is something that sent shudders through the legal department.

The city has too many law suits on their hands as it is – so the branches of the tree had to come down. How many of them? All of them with the trunk of the tree left for someone to perhaps carve something out of at some future date.

An aboriginal drummer took part in the celebration of the Spencer smith willow trees that were scheduled to be cut down today.

There is an opportunity to do something interesting – look at the size of that tree trunk

Seventy cuttings are going to be taken and replanted immediately in some secret location and at some later date they will be replanted elsewhere in the city. So the planting of the willow trees some seventy years ago by a Burlington merchant named Spencer smith who had a shop on Brant street will live on.

Burlington is adding to its history.

Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward invited people to gather at the base of the tree and hold a small celebration. Weather was a factor and as Meed Ward and her husband Pete and their dog walked to the park they glanced at the heavy grey rolling clouds Meed Ward decided they would continue with the event.

Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward gives the Spencer Smith willow a hug – later today the chain saws will dig into the bark and bring down all the branches leaving just the trunk that is expected to be available to someone to carve.

Instead of gathering at the base of the tree everyone gathered in the gazebo – it was tight and it didn’t last all that long.

There was an aboriginal drummer to bring some dignity to the event.

The evening ended with Meed Ward giving the willow tree a last hug.