Less than twenty-four hours after our landmark tree fell to the ground, the ideas for a fundraiser tied to the great cottonwood have begun. If you are like most of us, you have a couple yourself. Well, put them down here and lets see if we can turn a sad situation into a positive movement and prideful outcome worthy of our old friend and our dedicated community.
I’ll start...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about a fundraiser, but I think some of the money collected should go to a memorial of sorts. Perhaps we could commission a scaled sculpture of the tree with a plaque, etc.
Chop it up. Sell it for firewood. Put the revenue in a fountain operating/maintenance fund.
ReplyDeleteLittle wooden Commemorative Coins.
ReplyDeleteI was so sad to hear about the loss of this great tree. My parents met near the tree during WWII and I sat under it during many summer days. I like the sculpture idea. It should be placed right where the tree stood and maybe a few benches could be made from its wood.
ReplyDeletecut a cross slab and put in knight museum
ReplyDeleteI was volunteering at the Knight Museum during the storm and went over and took pictures of it within a half hour. Staffers and others at the museum were saying that people may want to buy slices of it or may want to buy things made of the wood. I love the idea. I'd like to see the WIDEST slice put in the museum with a date line showing major happenings in Alliance noted on little markers on the rings where it happened. Does that make sense. This could be very meaningful for our history. Keep the ideas coming.
ReplyDeleteI empathize with the tree. It must have been painful. Thank goodness it didn't fall on the the fountain, museum, person or property! I visualize the scene with on looker's humming "kumbaya" as they are running for their lives.
ReplyDeleteThis was an old tree. When you have old trees and high winds, they tend to fall over. Since that has happened, either cut it up so the wood can be used for benches, or, as previous person stated, cut it up, sell it and put the mney from it toward the fountain.
ReplyDeleteHow about a shelter with a nice bench for people sit under as they watch the fountain. Keep the idea simple and the cost low and local craftsman(s) might do this for nothing. It would imitate the shelter the tree gave so many over the years.
ReplyDeleteThe Cottonwood tree that fell in the Central Park this Monday was a truly beautiful background for the fountain . My grandkids climbed in it. It is a sad loss. There have been some good ideas posted on the Alliance Times blog, but we need to act quickly before the tree is firewood and mulch. I do realize the city needs to get the area cleaned. And we sure don’t want kids, or adults, getting hurt trying to climb on it.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of tree to go around. If the trunk is cut into rounds they can be treated and used in many ways. We could have a path around the fountain. The largest cut could go to the museum -- I liked Rachel’s “date line” idea. I’m sure someone would be glad to make a bench and we would still have enough left for coins, firewood, and mulch that could be sold to make money to put toward a memorial of some sort.
Sure, trees come down in storms, but why have a “So what!” attitude? This tree was an Alliance landmark that was part of years of wonderful memories. It undoubtedly holds an important meaning to many of us. Why let its remains go to waste? Lets get together and brainstorm.
This has been my thought since the tree has fallen down. Cut the largest part into a slab, this can both be used as a way to see actually how old the tree was ,and, like said earlier, it can be used as a sort of "caledner" to point out events over the history of the tree.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in buying some trunk slices of that great old tree. My dad has made clocks from other types of trees and I'd love to get some slices to make clocks for myself and my sons.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this grand tree should end up as firewood or mulch. At least not all of it. Get a good sized slice and put it in the museum, maybe two slices-one big and one smaller. Otherwise, put the wood to good use. I'd be willing to help make clocks of the trunk slices.
Peace
Another thought, perhaps the roots could be preserved and also put on display along side a slice of the tree. Mainly thought of this when one of my sons was in awe at the size of the roots.
ReplyDeleteLove all the ideas. Hope some one takes the ball and runs with it. That slice for the museum, clocks, a shelter, bowls etc. How inventive. Great! After the Planning Commission meeting tonight a young man said that there are people who do chainsaw carving. He'd like to see something erected on the spot as a memorial for the tree. Trees are so precious in this area.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of cutting a slab off of it and displaying it the musuem showing what was going on in Alliance and the age of the tree. That tree was part of our heritage and at least a part of it should be preserved for all to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHere's to great ideas and to community involvement!
Let jim keep all the wood. And all the money. The city workers should have cleaned that mess up.pay--pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay pay and then PAY SOME MORE!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that the tree fell down. It was 75 years old. I hope it will grow back. I'm going to miss it. It was cool to see when I went to the fountain. People should pick it up and bury the branches and maybe put parts into the fountain so we could still see it.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of putting a wide ring in the museum, and I also think that a 20 ft section of it or so, would be neat to have a chain saw artist carve it into some kind of monument, or totem pool or somthing, you see those all the time in Colorado along the road way. It sure changes the view of the fountain now, it seems the fountain goes a lot higher without the huge tree behind it as a back drop.
ReplyDeleteYou do raise money for the memorial by selling trees that people can plant around town.
ReplyDelete