The Reading Public Library is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the city’s so-called Charlie Brown Christmas tree with a display and focused events.
It’s been a decade since the downtown Christmas tree some called ugly made worldwide headlines.
The Norway spruce, harvested from the city’s Egelman Park, was called a Charlie Brown tree after the spindly looking fir chosen by the title character in the 1965 animated holiday special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
The tree garnered international attention after city officials, bemoaning the species’ characteristically drooping branches and irregular shape, first planned to replace it before embracing it and the goodwill it seemed to generate.
Harry Deitz: We may see a positive forest through an ugly Christmas tree
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The tree was rededicated and decorated with a theme drawn from the classic special featuring the Peanuts comic strip characters created by Charles M. Schulz and complete with Snoopy’s doghouse.
This year, the library, 100 S. Fifth St., has its own version of the tree that ultimately united the community.
In keeping with the Charlie Brown theme, the library is showcasing books featuring the Peanuts gang during its storytelling events for children and a selection of books and videos are available to borrow.
The library also will offer several showings of the beloved special in which the Peanuts gang learns the real meaning of the holiday.
The display outside the library’s main entrance includes the doghouse, which had been in storage since 2014.
The prop was made by Luke Schultz, then a foreman in the city Public Works department and now Reading School District assistant director for maintenance services.
Schultz, with the help of Steve Weber, a carpentry teacher at Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center, and Weber’s students, salvaged the discarded tree after the holidays and used its wood to make a bench, still used in City Hall.
Reading-Muhlenberg carpentry students carve ugly Christmas tribute
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He was among those who spoke Tuesday during a commemorative celebration on the steps of the library.
Others speakers included Denise L Schleicher and Idalmi V. Rivera, author and illustrator, respectively, of the 2018 children’s book, “The Ugly Christmas Tree: Mr. Douglas Fir,” a tribute to the famous tree.
Schleicher said she wanted to tell the story from the tree’s perspective. For the illustrations, she turned to Rivera, then a Reading High School student and now a graphic designer.
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“I couldn’t be more pleased about marking this anniversary,” City Council President Donna Reed said during the event.
Reed said although she was among those who called for the tree’s replacement, others, including former councilwoman Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz recognized its natural beauty and pushed to keep it.
“What many – including myself, unfortunately – saw as an ugly tree back then, did, in a few weeks’ time, bring our community together,” Reed said, “and Reading was, in turn, positively reflected on the world stage.”
Source: Berkshire mont