STEWIACKE: After years of serving as a family’s outdoor Christmas tree, this year’s Tree for Boston will soon be on its way from Stewiacke.
The 45-foot White Spruce was donated by landowner Bette Gourley.
“We planted this tree 40 years ago, and we decorated it every year for Christmas until it got too tall. We’re very pleased and honoured that it’s this year’s Tree for Boston, in thanks for their help after the Halifax Explosion,” Gourley said in a media release. “My husband was very community minded, and our two sons and I try to carry on that spirit in our lives. We sincerely hope the people of Boston enjoy this tree as much as we have over the years.”
The tree-cutting ceremony will take place on Nov. 15 at 10:30 a.m. on the Gourley family’s property at 680 Hwy 2, in Stewiacke.
Members of the community are welcome attend the event, where local Mi’kmaw Elder Joe Michael will do a smudging ceremony and gift offering before the tree is cut.
“Sending a tree to Boston is a deeply rooted tradition in Nova Scotia,” Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables Tory Rushton said. “We will be forever grateful for the aid Boston provided after the Halifax Explosion. And what better time of year to show that gratitude than around the holidays.”
2023 marks the 106th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion that devastated north-end Halifax, killed nearly 2,000 people and left thousands more injured and homeless.
The Tree for Boston is the province’s annual thank you to Boston for sending medical personnel and supplies to Nova Scotia within hours of the Halifax Explosion in 1917.