Shoe Tree shows no signs of slowing down

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 July 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

YATES – The Lyndonville Shoe Tree has been a craze since 1986 when the late Earl Baun helped a girlfriend get rid of about eight to 10 pairs of shoes. He threw them into the trees at the corner of Foss and Lakeshore roads.

Baun started a popular tradition in the Lyndonville community that shows no signs of slowing down. I stopped by the row of four ash trees this evening on a way to a concert at the Yates Town Park.

The Shoe Tree is a whimsical attraction, with hundreds of shoes nailed to the trunks of the trees or dangling from branches high above.

The Shoe Tree is featured on Web sites and was included in a 2008 book called “New York Curiosities.”