Gnomes have taken up residence on Wellington Street in Midland.
Although they’re sometimes difficult to see, their whimsical home called the Sunny House is clearly visible to passersby thanks to its smokestack, tiny doors and adjacent bright yellow mailbox.
The gnome home is the brainchild of Wendy Ellery.
Left with just sawdust and memories from an old maple tree that once stood proudly in her front yard, Ellery decided to tap into her creative spirit with help from her brother-in-law René Robitaille.
“I was quite saddened to learn from the Town of Midland our old maple tree had to be cut down,” she explains. “I knew it was inevitable considering the number of branches it dropped over the past few years.”
Ellery says the majestic maple was just never the same following sewer reconstruction on Colborne Street five or six years.
“When they did that, they disturbed the roots,” she says. “The old tree just could not survive. I knew it wasn’t well because anytime there was a storm, it was dropping branches like crazy.”
So when she arrived home from work one day to find a crew taking the tree down, she asked them to leave a four-foot stump. While saddened the tree was removed, Ellery says staff were very accommodating with her vision and helped to make it happen.
“I was incredibly pleased that I was able to save and honour some part of the tree. This will be our first year without it and in the summer it created a lot of shade, so it's going to be missed. At least this way, I could salvage some of it and keep it around.”
Ellery would like to see the town create similar gnome homes in municipal parks where trees need to be taken down due to age or illness.
“I would love the opportunity to build some gnome homes in our public parks,” she says, noting she has been in contact with the town about developing a program which would see a series of gnome homes built around the town in parks and public spaces.
Under Ellery's proposal, volunteers would make and maintain the homes in a variety of styles from basic to more detailed using donated materials from local businesses and residents.
There would also be a chance for local businesses or residents to adopt a home and be included in its naming. A Gnome Home trail map could also be created to help everyone explore all the homes.
“This is not a unique idea as some towns/cities already have such trails,” Ellery says, adding that Neck Point Park in Nanaimo, B.C. and Bainbridge Island in Washington state have similar initiatives.
As well, she says it could save the town money by not having to grind and remove stumps.
“It would honour and give a second life to the majestic old trees that must come down,” she says.
“It is a cost-effective, eco-friendly way to add a unique, fun and interactive activity for residents and visitors to our town. Designs can be presented in advance to the town and installation can be inspected by the town for minimum safety standards if required."
And Elllery even has an initial stump in mind after a tree was removed this spring near the YMCA in Little Lake Park.
“A build and installation of a gnome home on this stump could quite successfully be installed in a socially distant manner and be ready in time for the nice weather and peak park use,” Ellery says. “Never more have these happy little homes been needed than now, during the difficult times of the past 18 months.”
As for the Sunny House, it’s quickly become a neighbourhood favourite.
“So many people have stopped to talk, take pictures and honk while driving by,” Ellery notes. “There has even been some hand-delivered mail received in the mailbox.”
Ellery says one little boy in her neighbourhood comes by the home almost every evening with his mother.
“I went out and I said ‘you come by often these days.’ He didn't speak, but I said, ‘there’s a little mailbox there and if you’d like, you could draw a picture or write a story and leave it for him.’ So, I ran out and bought some suckers and will leave a little note with a sucker for him.”
