Montreal's unsightly Christmas tree, which has been the butt of jokes around the world ever since it was installed in the Quartier des Spectacles earlier this month, has been taken down — but it will live on in another way.
Crews dismantled the tree, branch by branch, on Wednesday — but Sapin MTL, the company that put the tree up, says the wood from it will be used to make benches for public spaces in the city.
"We're going to engrave something on it, so that people are going to recognize that it was originally the Sapin of Montreal," says Philippe Pelletier from Sapin MTL."All the media that we talked to found it a very good idea to give a second life to the tree, instead of just throwing out the wood in the garbage."
Pelletier says he intends to return to the Quartier des Spectacles next year — with a new Christmas tree.
The tree was supposed to be a rallying point for Montrealers, similar to the way the Rockefeller Centre tree in New York City is. It didn't quite work out that way, though — it was denounced as too crooked, too narrow, and too ugly, and became the butt of jokes around the world, including on some American late-night talk shows.