The Lake Harriet Elf
I first heard the story of the Lake Harriet Elf on FM 107 a month or so back. I’ve been around Lake Harriet a bajillion times, and I’d never noticed the elf’s tree. Since then, I’ve biked past it a few times, but not bothered to stop. This particular time I happened to be on foot, so I grabbed a few pictures with the camera phone.
There’s a stairway down to the paths at Oliver Ave S. Head back west from there and look for the tree with flowers planted around it. It’s a short way down, between the walking and biking paths.
There’s a sign on the door saying that he’s moved west to his winter castle, but you can reach him at his P.O. box if you like. Still, plenty of people left gifts and notes for him. Supposedly the elf responds to all the notes that he receives. It’s very cute and a very clever idea and apparently the elf has lived there for years and years.
The best part of it all was listening to parents introduce their young kids to the tree. Some were all, “Hey look at this!” as they passed by it. Others had a whole story about it, conveniently climaxing as they arrived at the tree. Some people (with kids and without) clearly had no idea what it was and wondered what the heck all these other people were doing squatting around this tree.
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