Wishing Tree PDX

The Wishing Tree on Williams Ave has been in our neighborhood since 2016 and has made an impact on our street ever since. It was born out of a creative project for Valentine’s day at the location of the UP Design Studio (a creative studio and personal residence) and has moved into a public art installation.

Hundreds of people from near and far have visited the tree and left wishes and enjoyed a moment of reflection and peace. Kids and parents make it regular stop and classes on their field trip have stopped by. Travelers from all over the world have found their way to the tree when visiting Portland.

The tree gets cleaned up once a year and restrung (we had to start using string so the tree would be able to live). The wishes are never discarded though, we still have almost all of them stored away in a safe place. The hope is to someday soon have a collective burning of the wishes with a community event honoring the neighborhood and its inhabitants.

Some fun facts:

• born February 2016
• wishes left so far over 40.000+
• in a normal summer, it takes 1.5 months to go through a box of 1000 tags
• we use shipping tags because they last longer
• we use sharpies, they are waterproof and last longer
• we have a hashtag #awishingtreepdx, please leave a wish and share!

Come and see us we have sanitizer, tags, and pens out!