The Christmas tree in Havelock North's CBD was 4 metres tall until the weekend.
It now stands a metre shorter after a would-be star-grabbing vandal tried to scale it, and in doing so left substantial damage.
A Hastings District Council spokeswoman said the tree was new and so were the decorations that adorned it.
Council was alerted to it by a member of the public at about 2pm on Saturday, but the exact details of when the vandalism occurred is unknown.
"Our maintenance contractors found that someone had tried to climb the tree, we think to steal the star, and in the process bent the top of the tree downward on a 90 degree angle, leaving the tree one metre shorter," the spokeswoman said.