Kennebunk’s Christmas tree in Rotary Park was cut down on Dec. 24. Courtesy photo

KENNEBUNK — An act of Christmas Eve vandalism that police say was carried out by three people under 18 has caused a stir in Kennebunk. At around 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 24, police were dispatched to Rotary Park where they found Kennebunk’s Christmas tree had been cut down.

The three young people are all from Kennebunk and have been charged with criminal mischief, Deputy Chief of Police Eric O’Brien said Dec. 29. The news that the suspects are minors ignited a lively discussion on Facebook, with some coming down hard on the accused.

The tree was the same one that was lit during the town’s 40th annual tree lighting ceremony, on Nov. 25. The large pine was dedicated to Linda Johnson, events coordinator for the Kennebunk Parks and Recreation Department.

Johnson said she was shocked and delighted when she learned the tree was dedicated to her on the evening of tree lighting.

“First of all, I didn’t know anyone in this town could keep a secret from me for that long,” she said. “It’s an incredible honor.” The tree lighting was a huge success, according to Johnson. Santa and the Grinch were there, and Kennebunk High School’s chamber choir performed.

Keri Walker, president of the Kennebunk Rotary Club, said that the people who cut down the tree must not “not understand the heartstrings attached to that park.”

Walker said multiple Kennebunk Rotarians who were instrumental in creating the park passed away over the past few years. “They worked with the town to create this beautiful space,” she said, “so to see it vandalized really hits home.”

Prior to this year, Kennebunk’s Christmas tree was in a different location for almost a decade, at nearby Tibbetts Plaza on Main Street. Walker said that she wasn’t looped in to the town’s decision to move it from Tibbetts Plaza, and the fact that it ended up in Rotary Park was a happy, but unexpected outcome.

In 2014, according to Johnson, the tree lighting moved from Rotary Park to Tibbetts Plaza because the original live tree had become diseased. Over the years at Tibbetts Plaza, the town would erect a donated tree.

Not everyone was on board with the decision to move the tree lighting back to Rotary Park.

“We were upset that the tree moved. And I think that a lot of other area businesses and locals were upset as well,” said Merrilee Paul, owner and manager of the restaurant 50 Local, which sits on Main Street next to Tibbetts Plaza.

She said that the tree supported local businesses by bringing in people who normally wouldn’t come to Kennebunk’s downtown. In general, it generated more foot traffic for nearby storefronts and restaurants, she said.

No matter her position about the tree move, she said she was horrified by the vandalism that took place on Christmas Eve. “Whatever happened in (Rotary) Park, I think is appalling,” she said. “I am just as upset about it as everybody else.”

Johnson said she heard about the pushback, and empathizes to a certain degree, but said that “as long as we have a tree and a tree lighting, I don’t think it should matter.”

According to Wayne Cutting of the Kennebunk Tree Committee, the committee plans to plant another tree in Rotary Park to replace the one that was cut down.

Meanwhile, news that it was three juveniles who had allegedly cut down the tree prompted a lively discussion on Facebook.

Some Facebook commenters advocated for the suspects to issue a public apology and be held accountable in court, others argued in favor of bringing charges against the parents of the suspects – while some expressed that the anger toward the three individuals was outsized.

There have been other recent incidents that echo the Christmas Eve vandalism. Minors reportedly burned the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce’s pride flag this year. Walker, the president of the Rotary Club, said that in 2022, the club put up a Christmas tree in the gazebo in Rotary Park in honor of Dick Bibber, who was a longtime Rotarian and sick at the time, and someone stole the tree.