A Wishing Tree! That’s so Portland.

This humble horsechestnut on the corner of NE 7th and Morris in Portland is the bearer of hundreds of wishes tacked to its trunk by passersby. I visited the Wishing Tree last week after reading about it online.

Our local KGW did a story on it earlier this year, as did The Huffington Post. They said the owner of the tree is Nicole Helprin, who got the idea for a wishing tree from a San Franciso blog. She and her two kids put a few wishes on their tree in the fall of 2013, and it has snowballed from there.

This is now Nicole’s view out her front door.  She supplies tags and a Sharpie for people to use, and there are nails pounded in all around the trunk for the wishes to be tied on.

What do people wish for?

Mostly love, health, and happiness, for themselves and for others.