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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor INDIAN ORCHARD Julian Popko's "Lobster Pot Tree" was the product of his spending time with the lobstermen of Provincetown. For the third year in a row, the Indian Orchard resident has built a Christmas tree out of working lobster traps in Provincetown in the center of Lopes Square and Commercial Street. Describing himself as "semi-retired," Popko is a real estate developer. He told Reminder Publications that he spends much of his summer each year in Provincetown where he paints and carves wood. He also is a "recreational lobsterman," which means he is allowed to trap a certain number of lobsters for his own use and not for sale. Popko said that lobstering is supplanting regular fishing in Provincetown and because of his own interest in it he came up with the idea for the now annual installation. Popko said that he borrows the pots from the lobstermen who generally don't fish from November until the next spring. The first year the installation used 42 pots and this year it has grown to 82. The "tree" is 17 feet tall with a base that measures 16 by 18 feet. There are strings of lights throughout the sculpture with 3,900 bulbs. Popko laughed when he said the lights are a challenge as a whole strong goes out with one bad bulb. Fifty-four plastic lobsters adorn the "tree." The installation will stay up through the middle of January. This year's installation took Popko three days to build with the help of his daughters Crystal Popko, Annemarie Popko, Monique (Popko) Leon and John McCarthy. The "tree" has attracted national attention in the past as Popko said it has been mentioned on Late Night with David Letterman" as one of the country's "Top Ten Christmas trees." Popko, who is also involved in the revitalization of Main Street in Indian orchard, said he doesn't build the "tree" for gain, but for "the sake of art." |