Reader Poll: What Should be Done with Wilmette's Bicentennial Ash?
Patch wants to know how you would commemorate the passing of the village's oldest tree.
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Wilmette's oldest tree was struck down during Monday's storm.
Therese Heyek
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When Monday's thunderstorm swept through Wilmette it took down one of the Village's historical treasures, the Bicentennial Ash.
While one reader submitted her poem and images of the fallen tree, Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch is taking a reader poll to find out: what you think should be done to commemorate the 265-year-old tree?
Should a new crop of Wilmette Wonderboys be produced? A series of plaques be made to spread throughout the village?
We'll be running an interview with President Chris Canning tomorrow on the tree, and would love to tie in your thoughts as well.
Please let us know in the comments below or shoot an email to andrea.hart@patch.com.
What do you think should be done?
Tell us in the comments.
Andrea Hart
3:16 pm on Thursday, July 14, 2011
You can also post your ideas on our Facebook Poll here: http://www.facebook.com/wilmettepatch. One reader has already given a "chainsaw" suggestion. What's yours?
Therese Bach Heyek
7:52 pm on Wednesday, July 20, 2011
It might be nice to have a totem pole, artistically celebrating the value of trees, sculpted from the available wood of the fallen tree.
A bench with a plaque, made from the wood of the tree, could stand in its location.
Dan Collyer
5:46 pm on Thursday, July 14, 2011
Cut it, stack it and burn it.
Frederick Keady
11:27 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
Make it into baseball bats for little leaguers, or sell it to the highest bidder and avoid another village boondoggle.
Tyler Kochman
11:51 pm on Monday, July 18, 2011
I feel it should be researched by observing its rings. I mean, it predated our nations founding. It lived through such environmental events as the 'Year Without a Summer'. It could give us much needed insight into historic and scientific data we could use to educate ourselves upon. Also, we should confirm the age of this tree, and possibly look into what was the next oldest (and is now the oldest) tree in Wilmette. Also, leave a section of the stump where it is, some trees start growing back if not entirely killed. Sure it wouldn't be able to grow back to any size near what it was, but it could sprout some sapling sized branches. If you respected it when it was large, why not respect it dead. Also, maybe a secondary plaque next to the original stating when this tree had died and how, and why it was important noting the plaque next to.
Tyler Kochman
11:52 pm on Monday, July 18, 2011
I don't mean respect it dead, I meant why not respect it small.