Photo collection

Tree for Boston Cutting Ceremony

Natural Resources and Renewables
The tree-cutting ceremony for Nova Scotia's annual gift to the City of Boston was held today, November 20, in Mattie Settlement, Municipality of the County of Antigonish. The Province sends a huge Christmas tree - this one is a 13.7-metre white spruce - to Boston as a thank you for sending medical personnel and supplies to Nova Scotia within hours of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. The news release about this year's gift is at: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2024/11/06/christmas-tree-boston-antigonish-county

Photo of Marie Pictou, an elder from the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw First Nation, performs a smudging ceremony over the Tree for Boston

Marie Pictou, an Elder from the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation, performs a smudging ceremony over the Tree for Boston in Mattie Settlement, Municipality of the County of Antigonish, today, November 20. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Photo of two people at an outdoor podium

Hugh and Liz Ryan, donors of this year's Tree for Boston, thank everyone for attending the cutting ceremony. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Photo of a man cutting a tree with a chainsaw

Peter Keddy, a distribution forester with Nova Scotia Power, cuts the Tree for Boston. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Photo of a boy walking with a wedge from a tree

Seven-year-old Hugh Ryan, grandson of tree donors Hugh and Liz Ryan, walks away with a wedge from the Tree for Boston. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Photo of a crane placing a 13.7-metre white spruce tree on a trailer

The Tree for Boston is loaded onto the trailer for its trip to the Boston Common, where it will be lit on December 5. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Photo of a woman holding seedlings on either side of her face

Sandra Johnston, Manager of Outreach and Education with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, holds three of the red spruce seedlings that were given out at the Tree for Boston cutting ceremony. (Communications Nova Scotia)


Other than cropping, CNS photos are not to be altered in any way.