Published: June 16, 1998
Section: NEWS
Page#: 01B
Lake Harriet's elf tree survives a brief scare
By John Windrow; Staff Writer
Published: June 16, 1998
Section: NEWS
Page#: 01B
Lake Harriet's elf tree survives a brief scare
By John Windrow; Staff Writer
Rest easy, The Little Guy is safe.
Considerable consternation broke out along the scenic shores of Lake Harriet on Monday when word spread that what's known as the elf's tree had a big red X on it.
Fish were jumping and mallards with their ducklings paddled by, but stroller-pushers wore worried looks when they saw the X on The Little Guy's abode, a green ash with a tiny wooden door at its base - a door where children have left cards and letters for the mysterious, benevolent Little Guy since the spring of 1995.
Could it be that the park people were going to cut down the elf tree?
Tricia Conroy, who was there with her 2 1/2-year-old son, Sam, was saddened at the prospect. "We love the elf," she said. "We visit it every time we walk around the lake. And this is Sam's first summer of visiting the elf."
Sam, who seemed unusually talkative for a lad of two summers, said, "The elf isn't here."
His mother asked him what was on the elf's tree. "X," Sam said with a frown.
"That's right," Conroy said, "The big, sad, X."
The elf tries to answer the notes that folks leave behind his door. He usually signs himself "The Little Guy." The elf, who asks that his name not be used, gets about 1,500 letters a month in the summer.
The tree "is always surrounded by kids," Conroy said.
Be sad no more, Tricia and Sam Conroy, it's a false alarm.
"It looks like a prank," said Lynn Parker of the forestry division of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. "It's not our paint and there's no reason for the tree to come down." Parker drove out to look the elf tree up and down when he heard about the big red X.
By midafternoon the red X had been painted over.
The Little Guy expressed relief when interviewed at his office away from the lake. "Now it's back to minnow fishing," he said.
The Little Guy said the letters are quite an obligation. "I write answers to the letters early, I write them late, I write them in my spare time," he said.
He pulled a note written on the back of a McDonald's receipt from a grocery bag he keeps near his desk. The bag was filled with scrawled letters and offers of tribute: trinkets, chewing gum, key chains and a whistle. The letter read:
Dear Mr. Little Guy,
I am Emily. I am four years old. I have a cold. I am going to make you a yellow valentine.
Love,
Emily
Mr. Little Guy said, "I don't know if Emily's going to come back. But I have to answer her. How can I not answer her?"
How indeed? And with the tree intact, The Little Guy will have the chance.