'Hideous' Christmas tree gone viral in Woodstock to be replaced Wednesday

Once the damaged, oddly shaped tree went up on Nov. 22, the criticism and jokes on social media immediately started to pile up.

Ben Nandy

Dec 4, 2023, 10:53 PM

Updated 235 days ago

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Some say it's ugly. Others say it's perfect.
Woodstock's Christmas tree mishap has gone viral.
"It was the ugliest tree you've ever seen," said Nick Costanzo, a clerk at H Houst & Son, a hardware store facing the plaza where the "hideous" tree was.
Once the damaged, oddly shaped tree went up on Nov. 22, the criticism and jokes on social media immediately started to pile up.
Woodstock Tree
"It was open season," craft shop owner Jeanette Aprile said. "This is what's fun about Woodstock. All other towns had the garland and the wreathes, and all the lights, and we have the crooked tree."
Woodstock Town Supervisor Bill McKenna told News 12 that when the town had an odd tree in the past, members of the volunteer 'Christmas Eve' board and town maintenance workers were able to repair it with extra branches and lights, but "there was just no adjusting this one."
McKenna said that once it went up, town officials realized they got the wrong tree, and went back to the farm in search of the one they really wanted.
The new tree is going to be put up this Wednesday.
Residents and business owners say they are not done laughing about the ugly, old tree.
Toy shop manager Linda Cox said she watched two weeks ago as volunteers and maintenance workers put it up.
She was shaking her head the whole time.
"And then they started putting the lights on it, and I thought, 'Oh my Gosh. Where'd they find that tree?' Then I thought, 'Well maybe it's the only one they could find.'"
McKenna is also having fun with the tree fail, calling it a "little bit of a comedy of errors."
McKenna said, for what it is worth, he has also received some feedback from people who like the ugly tree; they said it reminds them of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.
Others joked with News 12 that the tree looked like a cannabis nug or an amoeba.


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