Canterbury Cricket Week ceremonies. As of 2017, there have been 166 Canterbury Cricket Weeks held. The week continued through the Second World War with cricket being held on the ground each season. The politician and journalist Bill Deedes wrote in 2000: "while the Second World War was on, I consoled myself by thinking that Canterbury Cricket Week, founded in 1842 with its tents and famous lime tree, unchanging in a changing world, was the sort of thing I was in business to preserve." Traditionally Canterbury Cricket Week has included a Ladies day with prizes being awarded for the best hat on the day.
The Senator (tree) tree was reported by the "Orlando Sentinel" to have been doctored. The plaque and portions of an iron fence were stolen by vandals in 1945 and never recovered. On January 16, 2012, a fire was reported at the top of the Senator tree, which burned from the inside out, "like a chimney." Firefighters arrived to try to extinguish the blaze, but the tree collapsed. The charred remains of the tree now stand only tall. On February 28, 2012, The Florida Division of Forestry said they arrested Sara Barnes, age 26, in relation to the fire of The Senator. Barnes said