Amid cries of protest, the beloved poinsettia tree will return to the Columbia mall. In an about-face, mall officials will bring back the tree next year, after nearly 200 residents petitioned to save the holiday tradition.
“We certainly have heard the community loud and clear,” said Karen Geary, senior general manager for the Mall at Columbia.
The festive tree was axed this year in the name of new traditions to attract visitors. The mall introduced Santastic, an interactive village at only three of General Growth Properties-owned malls in the nation.
“It?s always about keeping it fresh and keeping it new,” Geary said.
But many Columbians didn?t want to lose the 35-year-old tradition.
The uproar over the missing tree reached a fever pitch Sunday when about 80 residents brought poinsettias to the mall in protest, and more than 180 signed a petition.
“We just couldn?t be happier,” said Claire Lea, one of the protest organizers.
The tree came to signal “the beginning of the holiday season,” she said.
Forty-eight hours after mall officials said the tree would not return, they reconsidered, she said.
Mall officials will recreate the 30-foot frame, which was donated to the Symphony of Lights, which benefits Howard County General Hospital. This year, the frame is festooned with lights, and in the future it may hold plastic plants, hospital foundation officials said recently.
The money used to buy the 750 plants was donated to Habitat for Humanity, but resurrection of the tree won?t mean less for the nonprofit, Geary said. General Growth selected Habitat to work with for the next several years.
“We will be participating not only with our treasure but with our time,” Geary said.
For Lea, the Habitat donation and the tree were “two separate issues.”
“We can all do charities if we wish and we are able, but it doesn?t mean we aren?t going to put our Christmas tree up,” she said.
