CAPE TOWN - Visitors to the Cape Town city centre will be greeted by more than 700 trees wrapped in colourful cloth meant to signal that the CBD is back in business after the blows dealt by the pandemic.
Dubbed the “Rainbow Tree Project”, at least 730 trees throughout the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) 1.6 square km geographical area have been wrapped in more than 3 000 metres of fabric.
The trees are visible on the Foreshore district at the lower end of Heerengracht, and in Christiaan Barnard St and Hertzog Boulevard. Trees have also been adorned with fabric in the CCID’s three other precincts, including high-pedestrian areas such as St Georges Mall, and Bree and Waterkant streets.
The trees in public spaces where people gather at lunchtime, such as Thibault Square, Pier Place and North Wharf, are also awash with vibrant colour.
CCID Urban Management manager Kally Benito said the trees have been wrapped in green, yellow, red, orange and turquoise fabric as the colours “represent our diverse nation, hence the name ‘Rainbow Project’”.
CCID chief executive Tasso Evangelinos said the company - which is tasked with improving the urban environment in downtown Cape Town - embarked on the project to enliven public spaces for the common good.
“This is an expansion of our successful 2020/21 ‘Come Back To Town’ campaign with the view of creating a positive vibe in the CBD so that visitors and office workers can once again enjoy the space. We invite people to have a picnic lunch or their takeout latte under the trees to inject some positivity in their day.
“The wider aim is to continue to invigorate the inner-city economy, which suffered greatly during the darker days of the pandemic. By wrapping trees, we are creating a joyful mood in the CBD, and it is working… we have had a very positive response from members of the public.”
“Initially, we were only going to cover 300 trees, but everyone loves the result and we have had requests from businesses to wrap trees in their areas so much so that we eventually ran out of fabric.”
The CCID will also run a “Rainbow Tree Selfie” competition on social media, inviting Capetonians to submit selfies of themselves enjoying the trees. A weekly winner will be chosen, and the entrant stands to win a retail voucher to be spent in town.
Cape Times