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Old 11-23-2014, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Michigan
29,391 posts, read 55,602,856 times
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READING, Pa. – A 50-foot spruce Christmas tree in downtown Reading is coming down after Scrooge-like complaints that it was pathetic and ugly.

A group led by City Council president Francis Acosta has begun raising private funds to replace it with something that’s larger and more impressive, and to decorate it. The current tree is topped with a lighted pretzel.

Ugly Christmas tree gets heave-ho from Pennsylvania city | Fox News
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Old 11-24-2014, 11:40 AM
 
24,411 posts, read 23,070,474 times
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Reading, Pa.....sigh. They had a chance to remember the true spirit of the season and to have a heartfelt laugh shared by all, but they opted instead to pursue some shallow hunt for glitz and glitter. Many said leave the tree and even the Mayor had second thoughts about his desire for a "better" tree, but too late.
I think it represented the city well and its removal was pointless. They cut down a living tree and now its loss served no purpose and they'll spend money on a better tree. Never mind the poverty and debt in Reading, they have to keep up appearances.
BTW, Fox. Reading, Pa. is known at Pretzel City. Pa loves its pretzels although I think Philly and Lancaster have an equal claim for the pretzel title. Reading had the first modern commercial hard pretzel factory, I believe but Lancaster county created the hard pretzel, I believe. Pretzels make a great ornament given their historically religious origins, but, yeah, I'd also like to see a star or angel on top of that tree.
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Old 11-24-2014, 12:47 PM
 
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Ah, Reading...pretzels and the Pagoda!



When the Pagoda was in disrepair and ugly, they almost took it down, too.
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Old 11-25-2014, 03:43 AM
 
24,411 posts, read 23,070,474 times
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Yay, the Ugly Tree can stay! They were in the midst of taking off the ornaments when the call came in, let it stay.
Ugly tree! Ugly tree! Ugly tree! I'm going to make it a point to see it tomorrow.
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Old 11-28-2014, 07:41 AM
 
7,975 posts, read 7,353,461 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Icy Tea View Post
Yay, the Ugly Tree can stay! They were in the midst of taking off the ornaments when the call came in, let it stay.
Ugly tree! Ugly tree! Ugly tree! I'm going to make it a point to see it tomorrow.

We're visiting family on the outskirts of Reading over the Thanksgiving holiday. We made it a point to see it on Wednesday. It's not THAT bad. I've definitely seen worse. Locals are calling it the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

I read in the Reading Eagle that in the spirit of a "Charlie Brown Christmas", they are going to be decorating it with a single red Christmas ball. We're headed to the Vanity Fair outlets in Wyomissing later this morning...we'll drive past and see if they've done it yet.
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Old 12-02-2014, 03:31 PM
 
24,411 posts, read 23,070,474 times
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They're keeping the tree and the story I heard is that they're going to have another Tree lighting ceremony on December 20th. Something about getting local businesses organized for an event. It seems awfully late. They're going to keep one red ornament on it, just like the Charlie Brown Tree. Its not decorated and looks odd when you drive past it during the day.
They had another tree put up in front of the giant stick of chewing gum just off the Penn Street bridge. They had a tree lighting ceremony for that too that made the paper. The ceremony was delayed while Mayor Vaughn Spencer and City Council President Acosta tried to find a better replacement Santa than the one they initially had.
Then too I heard that the tree hasn't been decorated because its trying to find a better city....
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