It happened, as most bad things usually do, on a Monday.
The ‘it’ in this case is the end of Stratford’s famous ‘climbing willow’ an oddly-shaped tree located on Lakeside Drive right across the the Allman Arena. After 50 years, the universe finally conspired against the tree and won when a crack in the trunk resulted in one half of the tree was left on the ground.
Stratford’s supervisor of parks and forestry, Shawn Hummel, said some schoolchildren were reportedly playing on the tree when it broke. No injuries were reported, and Hummel said he thinks it was just a small crack that eventually turned into a bigger one.
“Willows are notorious for having decay in them and cracking, so we had noticed this quite a while ago that there was some decay in there but it was still a healthy tree,” he said. “We had no concerns at the time but we’d been keeping an eye on it because the tree had been dropping over the years. There was a crack in there that kept getting bigger until it got much worse. We ended up having to remove it for safety reasons.”
Had it not been for David Humphrey’s social media post about the tree’s fate, it might’ve been one of those things that just passed into local history without a lot of fanfare. Humphrey is a woodworker who has a booth at Art in the Park just up the road from the tree, and for the 34 years he’s been coming to sell his wares, that willow had a following all of its own.
“Over the years, so many people have brought their kids to that tree to take pictures and let their dogs climb on it – it’s been pretty great the way people have made a real connection with it and to the park,” he said. “Even in its death, it’s given to people. I’ve seen people today standing at the stump and taking photos. It was a giving tree in its life and now it’s a giving tree in its death.”
Having seen the tree change over the years from his vantage point in the park, Humphrey said his most significant bond with the tree came just a few weeks ago in what can only be called fortuitous timing.
“My grandsons came to visit and I happened to take pictures of them up on the tree, without even knowing it was going to be coming down,” he said. “That was a real special thing for me. And after I posted about this on Facebook, other people have been sharing their memories of the tree which I think is fantastic. There are lots of willows around the parks, but this one was just so easy to climb and had character all on its own.”
And even thought he had to make the call to take the tree down, Hummel said he’s got special memories of it, too.
“It was a landmark tree, to be sure, and I know a lot of people have special memories that included it,” he said. “You could easily imagine a large group of people around it taking pictures because it just became one of those significant local landmarks. I know I’ve got lots of pictures of my kids on it, so yeah it was special.”
