Thu, August 28, 2008
They're loved, they're hated, dismissed as a waste of money or praised as art.
Either way, the Forest City's inventory of those colourful wrought-iron trees dotting the core area will get a boost when 15 new ones are installed this fall.
And despite initial public criticism when the first 30 neon-coloured trees were installed last fall, it seems Londoners are warming to the project launched by the London Downtown Business Association more than a year ago.
"I don't think some people, initially, really understood what we were trying to do," says Janette MacDonald, manager of MainStreet London.
"This is public art, trees that represent our Carolinian forest heritage, for the public to enjoy. But we also know we need real trees in our core area for the environment and the beauty. I think more people are understanding them and enjoying them."
The project was launched just as public concern over the city's declining tree cover was growing.
Some people thought the trees were intended to replace the one planted in the core area which, for various reasons, haven't thrived. The art trees are installed at locations where real trees can't be planted.
Further, many people thought they were a waste of tax dollars when the cost of $7,500 per tree actually was being paid by local businesses.
Bob Usher, chairperson of the London Downtown Business Association, agrees the public has warmed to the trees, especially the bright colours during the long, dull, cold winter.
"A lot of people are coming downtown just to see them," says Usher. "They've got colour for a little bit of fun and they're a little kooky. I think in the dreary months of winter they look pretty good."
Meanwhile, the downtown's business community continues to support the city's tree-planting efforts, putting up another $10,000 this year for trees.
Usher says the trees came through their first winter relatively unscathed.
"We've had one tree broken and the boy who did it, his mother brought him and they paid to repair it," says Usher.
"The leaves get bent, occasionally, but that's been it."
The trees, all Carolinian, include 22 varieties such as oak, hickory, walnut, cottonwood, pine and others with large, easily identifiable leaves.
The project was the brainchild of architect/developer Andy Spriet and financed with $200,000, mostly from the downtown business association.
The concept is not unique.
In April 2000, Toronto put 326 life-sized moose on its streets as part of an outdoor art exhibition and fundraiser. Then Calgary put out dozens of colourful cows that were auctioned to businesses, with proceeds to charity.
Winnipeg then launched its Bears on Broadway project with 62 brightly coloured bears adorning area streets and businesses to brighten its downtown and raise money for cancer research.
Jonathan Bancroft-Snell, whose world-renown Dundas Street studio houses the largest collection of ceramic art works in the country, lobbied to have a tree installed in front of his store.
"Aren't they fabulous?" Bancroft-Snell says. "I had clients who came in from Montreal who had this impression of London being this WASP-ish, boring city. And when they got here, they were blown away by the restaurants. And they just loved the trees."
Bancroft-Snell says he's met people who initially criticized the trees but have since changed their minds.
"The trees have become a part of our urban landscape, like beacons," he says.
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