A Wilton High School tradition alive and well for 13 years has been forced to move elsewhere on campus due to the upcoming commons project planned at the south end of the gymnasium.
Located just outside the southeast entrance to the high school, where students enter and exit each day from the parking lot, was the “shoe tree,” where cross country runners would throw their used track shoes, tied together by the laces.
Thanks to an upcoming $2.6 million project that includes building a new commons area, restrooms, concession stand and other office/storage space, all the trees located south of the school’s gym had to be taken down.
The sneakers from the shoe tree were collected and redistributed into a new tree on the west side of the gym, designated as the new shoe tree. There’s blue and gold ribbon tied around the tree’s trunk to signify it as the new shoe tree.
“It was important to find a new tree which we did last spring,” said WHS principal Marc Snavely. “It is a neat tradition, and we want to be sure that it continued even though the original tree had to be cut down to make way for the commons. I think they are also planning to put a rock beside it to label it accordingly.”
According to a story printed in the Advocate News Nov. 2, 2017:
Former Wilton cross country coach Dave Cook started the tradition (in 2007) after seeing a tree on a popular running route in Louisville, Kentucky that was loaded with running shoes tossed in by runners when they were finished with them.
“This tree literally had probably a thousand pairs of shoes in it, said Cook. “I just thought it would be cool to have a tradition where people could leave a little legacy that would be seen by others,”
The tradition goes; any cross country senior or team member who qualifies for state gets to throw their shoes into the tree before the state meet…
Cook shared some of his favorite shoe tree memories: “When Marshall Beal was a senior he had his shoes all tied together ready to toss up in the tree. Like most attempts he gave them a good toss high up into the branches but they failed to attach to anything and came down with a thud. Marshall walked over and picked them up and realized he had forgotten that he had his car keys inside one of the shoes. It’s not as easy as it looks and the majority of the time it takes several attempts to get them to stay.”