Out on a limb

Science teaches us that mighty trees from small acorns do grow. That is, except in Tucson, Ariz., where a tree—more precisely, an "enchanted fairy tree"—can grow out of a fertile imagination—not necessarily out of fertile soil! (Tucson is, after all, a desert.)

Following two years of what Sara Chesney terms the "wild successes" of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Toys Faery Festival, the award-winning retailer was looking to add even more charisma to what had become an annual event.

What she decided, was to conceive a more "permanent" spot in the store for the fairies to inhabit.

"Please don't get me wrong," Chesney tells PLAYTHINGS. "This was not an attempt to jump off the deep end into a metaphysical whirlpool," she quips. In the same breath, however, Chesney—who refers to herself as "head pixie"—does admit that over the past two years, the store has become somewhat of a fantasy haven for grownups as well as kids.

Since the specialty retailer's first festival, sales of fairy products have grown to account for almost 25 percent of annual revenues. Not to mention, that the store itself has evolved as a destination, not only for local residents, but for customers hundreds of miles away, too.

"This sort of whimsical idea of turning up the heat on fairies that I began two years ago had become so inviting to my customers, that they encouraged my thinking about how to continue to grow this category in the store. My customers actually convinced me to grow the enchanted fairy tree," Chesney says.

Well, the customer is always right. In addition to providing an imaginative—and more importantly, inviting—merchandising display, the effort proved to be a winner: Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Toys received top honors for 2002's Best Merchandising Display from PLAYTHINGS.

To move from objective to actual object—enchanted tree—Chesney called on the expertise of others.

"I had come to know a lot of artisans who had experience in this area," she explains. "So in late 2001, I started to fish around for someone to actually tell me how to do this magical thing," she adds.

At first, Chesney thought she might just cover a bench in the store's book room "with a thatched roof or something."

However, none of her efforts to actually materialize the concept had worked.

"All my attempts at figuring out how to accomplish this went awry," the head pixie tells PLAYTHINGS . "Just as I was about to give in to the I-cannot-do-this; I-have-a-business-to-run thoughts," she continues, "Terri Windling, the award-winning fantasy author and editor, introduced me to Charles Vess."

Vess, it turns out, was the "perfect fairy tree designer," says Chesney. Vess, who has a background as an illustrator for comics, graphic novels and books, won the prestigious Eisner Award for his illustration of the book Rose. In addition, he had designed a few trees for museum exhibits and shows.

Chesney contacted Vess about the enchanted tree project and the two exchanged ideas. "We had a blast thinking up our enchanted fairy tree," she laughs. In March, Vess flew to Tucson and two days were spent "growing" the tree.

Prior to the artist's arrival, Chesney sent flyers and e-mails to her customers with the news. A permanent display for the store's fairy merchandise and collectibles would be built in the store; the enchanted fairy tree was about to be cultivated.

And so sure was Chesney about the project's success, that she risked closing the popular store for a full day in the middle of the week—Wednesday, March 13—and for several hours the following day.

Chesney invited customers to stop by that Thursday to watch the tree bloom and to lend a helping hand.

Completion of the tree launched what she called Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Magical Pixie Spring: The countdown to the Third Annual Faery Festival had begun.

The tree, in addition to providing a "charming" permanent merchandising display for fairy merchandise, adds to the magical ambiance of the store, says Chesney. Community interest in the tree-building project further spiked enthusiasm about the festival, she adds.

"We sold out two weeks prior to the event!" she told PLAYTHINGS following the annual event in mid-April.

"It was fantastic!" she enthused.

And that's no fairy tale.