Visitors to Strawberry Fields, the Central Park memorial to the late John Lennon, were startled Monday to see crews removing one of two big elms near the iconic “IMAGINE” mosaic at the heart of the plaza.
The first tree at Strawberry Fields, a reference to 1967 Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” was taken down a little more than a week ago. The second came down May 19, buzz-sawed, and then removed, leaving only piles of sawdust. Workers with New Rochelle-based Almstead Tree, Shrub & Lawn Care, took down the tree Monday.
Strawberry Fields is one of the most visited portions of the park. The five-acre site is seen as incarnating the spirit of John Lennon and his idealistic views. Thousands gather there annually on Dec. 8 to mark the anniversary of Lennon’s murder that night in 1980 outside the Dakota apartment building where he lived.
A musician sat on a bench with her guitar tucked away in a case on Monday as the sound of a buzz saw tore through the air. Caution tape was strung across the area as a worker in a bucket truck took a chainsaw to the tree.
Local residents said they wondered why the two trees had been taken down in a park where simply carving initials in bark often prompts a powerful response.
“They just came in and removed the trees. They took a huge chainsaw and chainsawed them down section by section,” one local resident said. “It’s a signature area of the city. Now that two are gone, residents are definitely asking residents.”
The Central Park Conservancy said its tree care team, responsible for the daily care and maintenance of more than 18,000 trees throughout the park, decided the trees needed to go because they were in “decline.” It said, essentially, that their removal was, to quote “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “nothing to get hung about.”
“As part of our routine monitoring, two elm trees near Strawberry Fields were found to be in decline,” a Conservancy spokesperson said. “Following careful assessment and continued observation, the trees were removed.”
The trees did not have Dutch elm disease, which has plagued some other trees. The Conservancy said it does not have plans to remove additional trees in Strawberry Fields at this time.
Still, passersby in the area, where songs such as “Norwegian Wood” were played, saw the taking down of the trees as a loss that came at a minimum without explanation in advance.
“Having trees at the memorial is vital as a symbol of life and hope,” said Jay Rin, a Nashville resident who plays the role of John Lennon in an all-girls Beatles band named Penny Lane.
Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, landscape architect Bruce Kelly, and the Central Park Conservancy helped design and create Strawberry Fields, dedicated 40 years ago on Oct. 9, 1985, on the 45th anniversary of Lennon’s birth.
The tree taken down Monday, like a silent sentinel providing shade and shelter, was near a lamp post behind the benches where musicians sit and visitors from around the world have come to perform, pause, and contemplate for years.
Rin, in town from Nashville for a few days with Evan Hull, listened as a guitarist sang “Don’t Let Me Down,” near the spot where the tree had come down earlier in the day.
“It’s a powerful place,” she said. “Every time I visit, I get emotional. The trees provide shelter for anyone who walks through this area.”
