The Detroit Zoo’s holiday Wishing Tree hears it all: We want health insurance, warmer weather, tires, a Super Bowl win for the Lions.
On the recent bitterly cold night the Free Press visited, a man rushing past the 35-foot tall talking pine said he wished the screaming toddler in his arms would stop crying.
The tree made no promises.
Now in its fourth year at the zoo’s seasonal Wild Lights display, the tree, dressed in more than 7,500 colorful lights — it said it was glad to be “spruced up” for the occasion ― is a popular attraction. That it has a handler only boosts it’s profile. The other night it was a perky man wearing a reindeer onesie, who encourages passersby to engage.
“I’m the Wishing Tree, do you have a wish for me,” the tree said as visitors, old and young, approached.
“I wish I had a dog for Christmas,” Edric Rodgers, a 23-year-old Detroiter said.
“You might be barking up the wrong tree, but I’m rooting for you,” the Wishing Tree replied, delighted by its punniness.
“Merry Christmas,” 2-year-old Elizabeth Schumaker of Oakland Township said.
“That’s a wonderful wish,” the tree said. “I’m going to log that in the Book of Festive Wishes and send it along now.”
It is unclear why the Wishing Tree is able to talk when other trees at the zoo and elsewhere are not. The tree said it received Wishing Tree training and was happy about that because until then it had been “stumped” about its future vocation.
A few more details about the tree: It won’t reveal its age and it doesn’t like being close to fireplaces. It says it knows someone who resembles Santa and that he’s a nice fellow.
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The tree is clear that it does not have the power to grant wishes; it operates more like a wishing well than a genie.
But if you tell the tree your wish — or even just think it to yourself — harp music will play and a spiral of light around the tree will flash and ascend skyward as the tree sends the wish. Where the wishes end up is a somewat vague; the tree says it sends them to its “branch manager.”
Is there a chance the 18-year-old from Rochester Hills will get the new tires he wants for his 2014 Equinox?
Or that the 3-year-old from Harrison Township will get a pony or that her younger brother, 2, will receive the helicopter he desires?
Or that the 22-year-old medical technician from Howell will end up with health care insurance during the period between when her old policy ends and her new one starts?
Or that the 19-year-old Rochester Hills student who wished for a Golden Retriever to take to campus with him will actually get a pup?
Who knows.
But there’s always hope.
“Hello, Wishing Tree, how are you?” 74-year-old John Dzwonkowski of Livonia chuckled as he stood beside the tree.
“Hello, I’m the Wishing Tree and I’m doing great! Do you have a wish for me?”
“I wish for peace and love throughout the world, at least at Christmastime.”
“That’s a wonderful wish any time, including Christmastime. Logging that in the Book of Wonderful Wishes and sending it along now.”
“Thank you,” Dzwonkowski said.
The tree will be standing tall and on duty select nights through Jan. 5. For Wild Lights tickets or more information: detroitzoo.org/events/wild-lights/.
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