Hundreds gather to send off annual Tree for Boston

HALIFAX — Hundreds of people gathered at Halifax’s Grand Parade Friday to say bon voyage to a tree. The 16-metre white spruce is Nova Scotia’s Tree for Boston — the province’s annual Christmas gift to the New England city as a thank-you for help after the 1917 Halifax Explosion. It was sent off on a flatbed truck over the noon hour by Deputy Premier Karen Casey and Mayor Mike Savage. Also on hand outside city hall were Kelly Craft, the new United States ambassador to Canada, and Boston parks and recreation commissioner Christopher Cook.

The 45-year-old tree was cut down in a ceremony Wednesday in Blues Mills, Inverness County.

The tree received a Halifax police escort to the U.S. border, and was expected to stop in Augusta, Me., en route to Boston.

Boston’s mayor will be joined by members of the RCMP on Nov. 30 for a tree-lighting ceremony on the Boston Commons.

Boston sent a trainload of volunteers and supplies to assist thousands of injured and homeless citizens in the city devastated by the Dec. 6, 1917, blast.