Holiday hijinks—downtown Mondovi Christmas tree vandalized

by Beth Kraft

Scrooge apparently made an unwelcome stop in Mondovi before Christmas, resulting in irreparable damage to the giant, 20-foot Christmas tree that made a festive debut in downtown Mondovi this year.

Located in the empty lot next to Mondovi Hardware on South Eau Claire Street, the large tree was donated to the city and decorated for the holidays for a tree lighting ceremony held just prior to the “Small Town Christmas” light parade on Dec. 6.

According to a report filed on Monday, Dec. 22, with the Mondovi Police Department by Sara Erickson, owner of Mondovi Hardware, the tree was vandalized sometime between 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, and 9 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21.

Erickson says she swung by the store that morning and found the top of the tree had been snapped off and left lying on the ground. Upon further examination, she noted the star tree-topper had been pulled down and was broken, as were some of the strands of lights.

“I was just heartbroken,” said Erickson of discovering the damaged tree listing sadly to one side. “Why would anybody do that?”

Damage is estimated at over $125, the report states. Erickson said she stuck about $500 of her own money into purchasing decorations and a tree stand to add the large Christmas tree to the city’s new collection of holiday lights.

Her goal was to add another element to the Mondovi Women’s Business Network’s annual holiday parade in an effort to build on the event and bring community pride and Christmas spirit to Mondovi.

“A lot of work went into that,” Erickson said of putting up the tree. “We just wanted to get more community involvement in the whole day.”

The large tree was donated to the city by local residents. Mondovi Hardware staff received assistance from local business owners to help string the lights and decorate it.

Whoever damaged the tree must have worked at it for more than a few minutes and may have had help from others, Erickson speculated. 

The power cord running up the tree’s center to the top had clearly been pulled on hard enough to pop the zip ties that held it to the trunk, unseating the star topper and taking out a few light strands as well. That force is also what likely caused the trunk to split in two over halfway up the tree.

With the recent vandalism and damaged lights still fresh in her mind, Erickson said she does not plan to pursue putting up another large tree in her lot next Christmas.

Investigation into the vandalism incident is ongoing by the Mondovi Police Department.