Change is Hard

Earlier this year the Beaches Town Center planted a trio of stately palms to occupy a prime piece of real estate: the grassy knoll where Atlantic and Neptune Beaches meet, the literal last stop before Atlantic Boulevard becomes the beach.

It’s such a focal point that I once mused here whether the site deserved a piece of public art, like the sculpture that seems (to me) buried at the 5-way stop. But for all these years that grassy mound only ever housed the Beaches Town Center Christmas tree.  Magnificent and festive, that fresh evergreen that sat majestically at the center of town, to the delight of most people paying homage to Christmas.

The other 11 months of the year, however, simply nothing was in that space. So I think we can all concur that these palms are lovely to look at year-round. 

But are there darker forces at play here? Several have argued that the landscape improvements seen throughout the Beaches Town Center was the good excuse needed to finally move the Christmas tree to a low key location. That the improvements project was merely the vehicle to do it. 

The three new palms were festooned with lights, and this new Christmas look debuted as the holiday season commenced. And while most were complimentary, some folks were, well, some were shocked by the loss/relocation of the Christmas tree, and took to social media to work through their complicated feelings on the matter. 

So, the town tree, which does appear decidedly diminished by its new locale, can be glimpsed outside the police and fire station at the 5-way stop. And tonight, those trio of palms are standing inexplicably unlit at the edge of Atlantic Boulevard,  feeling quite the outcasts.

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