Following Saturday's official launch of the Christmas season in downtown Collingwood, that included the Santa Claus parade, residents "nearly sprained their ankles" running to the comment sections on local Facebook groups to bash the tree.
More specifically, the lighting arrangement was the target for a relentless stream of sometimes clever, more just mean comments about how the lights were strung.
The tree was lit by the mayor and town crier following a parade and in front of a crowd of hundreds of people, and when the switch flipped a web-like pattern of white lights turned on, but some in the crowd were turned off by the display.
Several threads immediately popped up on Facebook, some of them gathering several hundred comments.
Comparisons were made to a cage, a spider web, and harsh pronouncements of the tree being an embarrassment, disappointment, and stain on the Christmas season followed. Many people also referenced the debacle in Orillia last year, that ended up with the Sunshine City being lampooned by Jimmy Fallon.
As it turns out, the Collingwood Downtown BIA, which is the organizing group for the parade and tree lighting, had something else in mind.
"This year, a new type of light was donated and installed on the Christmas Tree downtown, and we hoped the tree lighting would be a spectacular finale following the Santa Claus Parade this past Saturday," said Sue Nicholson, general manager for the BIA, in an email.
"Unfortunately, the installation did not go as planned, and in the effort to add more lights, it turned out more Charlie Brown Christmas than the festive celebration we'd intended."
Ironically, the message of Charlie Brown Christmas was a criticism on the overcommercialization of Christmas.
The tree is being restrung, and it will be dark until that task is complete.
