When fisher woman Allisan Spear was looking to recycle her old lobster traps back in 2017, she came up with the idea of building a lobster trap Christmas tree in St. Andrews' Market Square. Not only does the initiative extend the life of her traps, it also saves a living tree from being cut down.

Vicki Hogarth – Local Journalism Initiative

"I just always loved the look of the lobster trap Christmas trees," said Spear. "They did it down in Maine quite a bit, and I was like, I would just love to build one of those. I just knew it would take a team. And this time of year is the worst time for our crew because everyone's fishing. So when I brought it up to my friend Kevin Simmonds from The Herring Pub, he said that he would help me for sure and get a team together, and everybody just showed up to help. So it was great. It was something that we all had fun doing, and we just keep doing it every year."

It takes 125 traps and over a dozen volunteers to build the lobster trap tree every November. Then it's decorated with buoys that are sold to members of the community who paint and decorate them. All the money raised from the buoys goes towards the local food bank, known as the Open Door Program. 

"I've been doing the trap tree every year with Ali since we began in 2017, and it's just a really great community project to raise money for our food bank, keep the money within our community, and bring a little bit of Christmas cheer," said volunteer Chelsey Hanson. 

The buoys have always been sold at The Herring Pub, owned by Kevin Simmonds who is the co-creator of the lobster trap tree initiative. Although The Herring is currently closed due to fire damage and hoping to open in the weeks ahead, Simmonds is still selling buoys for $35 from The Herring every day to keep up the tradition. Last year, the initiative raised over $16,000 for the local food bank.

"We've arranged that we're going to be open 12:00pm to 3:00pm every day," said Simmonds. "People can come in the side door of the pub, the door will be open. They walk in if they want to pay cash, and they can pick up new buoys. All the money goes to the local food bank here in St Andrews."

For Simmonds, making sure the tradition continues is important because the tree symbolizes what the season is all about.

"I just think it's community," said Simmonds. "You see how many people on the tree today. If there's new people added again to it today, they're helping put it up. There's new people that help tear it down. It's community, right?"