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Bellport Village is considering offers from two different residents both looking to donate a tree for the village’s annual Christmas tree lighting.
One resident who is offering up a fir tree lives in Bellport and the other is from Brookhaven Hamlet.
The timing seems right, village clerk John Kocay told Village Board members Monday night, considering the village has a lighting ceremony scheduled for Dec. 5 but doesn’t have an “appropriate tree.”
Last year the village lit two shrubs that flank the park gazebo at Bell Street and Bellport Lane.
While it might be too close to the holiday season to make a decision on cutting down or transplanting a resident’s tree for this year, village officials indicated, Mayor Ray Fell said perhaps Bellport Village could start a tradition moving forward similar to that involving Rockefeller Center in New York.
“Maybe we’ll be in the business, like in NYC, where someone cuts down a tree and donates it to the village every year and it can be designated as the official Christmas tree and lit for the season,” Fell said. “I think it would be nice to have something like that.”
The village had lit a tree that’s near the gazebo in the past, but it has grown much too big to be decorated, Fell said.
Meanwhile, the village is looking to get rid of those two shrubs, since they’re throwing too much privacy for vandals that have targeted the gazebo in recent months.
Fell said the tree-donation idea could benefit villagers and the homeowners alike.
“Someone can donate a tree that’s maybe become just a bit too big for their property,” he said.
Photo: The gazebo where Santa sits during Bellport’s annual lighting ceremony. (Michael White)
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