Not Your Traditional Holiday Trees???

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Always a highlight of Winter WonderFest are the over-the-top thematic trees. Each tree gets decked out with hundreds of lights & ornaments. This year we pushed to get more “themes” on the trees. It was great fun coming up with the concepts and seeing them through to installation. It’s been a busy week getting everything ready… and Winter WonderFest opens today at Navy Pier. Bring the kids down for hours of ice skating, amusement park rides and bouncy, inflatable fun… and you can enjoy the thematic trees! Some of the trees were designed to sit on top of larger “planter boxes” with seating on both sides. It was a nice challenge to design tree themes in “trios” so that the planter box had an overall concept, along with a different theme for each tree. Exotic Travel Destinations… China, Hawaii & Mexico. TREE china 4 TREE hawaii 5 TREE mexico 1 Deconstructed Disney… Ariel, Peter Pan & Belle. TREE ariel 1 TREE peter pan 1 TREE belle 1 Masters of Modern Art… Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock & Roy Lichtenstein. TREE piet mondrian 1 TREE jackson pollock 1 TREE roy lichtenstein 1 TREE piet mondrian 2TREE jackson pollock 2TREE roy lichtenstein 2 Vintage Kids Games… Barrel O’Monkeys, Ker’plunk & Clue. TREE barrel of monkeys 1 TREE ker'plunk 2 TREE clue 1 After the theme trios in the planter boxes, the remaining trees sit around the room individually. Each with a different theme of its own. Santa’s Scavenger Hunt… an interactive list to see what spilled out of Santa’s bag. TREE santa's list 5 TREE santa's list 3TREE santa's list 4 TREE santa's list 7TREE santa's list 2 Shedd Aquarium… dedicated to the underwater beauty at the Shedd Aquarium. TREE shedd aquarium 1 TREE shedd aquarium 4TREE shedd aquarium 3 Peacock Plumage… with feathers gracefully draping & transforming down the tree. TREE peacock 1 A Snowy Vintage Christmas… rustic toys & lacy snowflakes tumbling down. TREE vintage christmas 2 See, Money DOES Grow On Trees! … just what you’ve always wanted! TREE money 1 TREE money 2TREE money 3 Mardi Gras… let’s get the party started! TREE mardi gras 1 Lincoln Log Cabin… with copper Lincoln pennies & cabins made of Lincoln Logs! TREE lincoln log cabin 1 TREE lincoln log cabin 2 Bollywood… festive colors, fabrics, textures, lanterns & traditional elements. TREE bollywood 1 Mad Hatter… crazy fun toppling out from his trademark hat! TREE mad hatter 1 Duck Dynasty… complete with ducks & bearded ornaments! TREE duck dynasty 1 TREE duck dynasty 4TREE duck dynasty 2 A Holiday No-L… nope, the L didn’t fall off, it’s part of the joke. See?… No L. TREE no-L 1 TREE no-L 4 Fall Harvest… pumpkins, gourds, corn, apples and bedazzled shafts of wheat. TREE fall harvest 1 TREE fall harvest 3TREE fall harvest 2 Chicago’s Instagram… local landmarks and their trending hashtags! TREE instagram 1 TREE instagram 6TREE instagram 5 Contemporary Grays & Greens… a sleek color palette with a touch of whimsy! TREE silver & lime 1 A Holiday Overture… a rich blend of reds & golds hitting all the right notes! TREE music 1 And as if that weren’t enough… then we went UPSIDE DOWN!!! Yes, three of the specialty trees are designed as upside-down trees. Each supported by a bricked pillar so guests get to look up & into the tree as they walk by. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons… with each season on a different side of the same tree! TREE four seasons 4 TREE four seasons 1 TREE four seasons 2 TREE four seasons 3 Ice Cream Cone… with just a smidge dripping over the edge! TREE ice cream cone 1 Outer Space… complete with flashing strobes on the spaceship! TREE outer space So there they are, all thirty specialty theme trees on display at Navy Pier’s Winter WonderFest. Make plans for a day on The Pier… it’s open through January 12, 2014.