Joey Ciaramitaro, a blogger from Gloucester, Mass., called it “ridiculously disfigured” and “horribly disproportionate.”

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

New York Times, Front Page.  It’s What We Do.

Click here for the entire story

Excerpt-

When Jonesport joined Beals to make a lobster trap tree on the island for the first time last year — it was 56 feet tall — Joey Ciaramitaro, a blogger from Gloucester, Mass., called it “ridiculously disfigured” and “horribly disproportionate.”

Mr. Ciaramitaro said he preferred his hometown’s tree, which stands about 35 feet, illuminating a plaza in the fishing city’s downtown. Each year, a local arts group invites children to decorate buoys as ornaments, which are auctioned off to raise money for the group. There are 353 on the tree this year.

“I think ours has a lot more soul in it than the other trees,” Mr. Ciaramitaro said. “It’s not just a bunch of traps all stacked up.”

Gloucester is believed to have started the tradition of the large lobster trap tree when it built its first one in 2001. Janice Lufkin Shea, who was a Gloucester shopkeeper at the time, was frustrated that Main Street had no holiday display. She saw a tiny lobster trap tree in someone’s yard and thought a bigger version would be perfect for downtown.

Legend has it that when people in Rockland, Me., learned of it, they decided they had to have one, too.

Click here for the rest of the story at The New York Times Website

I mean was there ever any question?  Last year’s fair and balanced poll proved out the numbers without a shadow of a doubt- the Gloucester Lobster Trap Tree Is Clearly the Most Beautiful.   Especially when you factor in the love and care from Art Haven and 353 sweet children who pulled together to adorn our tree with community messages and incredible art work.  You see, Gloucester isn’t just one dimensional.  Sure we have a great fishing community but it is so much more.  The Arts, The Food Scene, The Literary Scene, we’re not just a one dimensional fishing town.  We’ve got it all!

The Gloucester Lobster Trap Tree Has Been Constructed and Adorned With Buoys Hand Painted With Love and Special Messages Of Peace, Joy and Hope By The Children Of Gloucester.  And then there are the sterile generic boring trees erected by prisoners of the Maine criminal system who have been incarcerated for unspeakable crimes against the elderly and sick and destitute.

We’ve Got God On Our Side.  The Results Of The Poll Were Inevitable.

The numbers don’t lie, here’s the poll-

Nice That The Bean’s Buoy Was Featured In The Article-

Here’s the Bean painting her buoy last week at Art Haven-