‘Wind Phone’ To Be Installed at Sunset Park

This photo depicts what a “wind phone” could look like after it’s installed along the walking trail at Sunset Park by Little Lake. Submitted.

Though it may resemble a public phone from the past, what’s known as a “wind phone” – to be installed along the walking trail at Sunset Park by Little Lake – won’t accept change or be able to make calls to anyone alive with a 10-digit phone number.

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council last week approved the project that Josh Gregory is financing through a GoFundMe account and covering the difference he doesn’t raise with his own funds.

Gregory said the wind phone – which the Joint Parks and Recreation Committee/Board recommended installing while giving municipal services director Mike Barker the discretion as to location – is a tool for healing or processing grief after the loss of a loved one.

“Thanks to the Parks and [Recreation Committee/Board] for voting for it and for seeing the value of something that’s as simple as a disconnected phone might bring to the mental health of a community, especially people who have recently lost a loved one and are dealing with grief,” Gregory said.

He said the idea of the wind phone – he is dedicating the one at Sunset Park in memory of his late mother, Judith – originated in 2010 in Japan. There, a landscaper named Itaru Sasaki set up a phone booth in his garden following the death of a cousin to continue to feel connected to him by “talking” on the phone.

But instead of relaying Sasaki’s thoughts through a regular phone line, Gregory said Sasaki stated that his thoughts were “carried on the wind.”

Following an earthquake and tsunami in Japan during 2011 when thousands of people were killed, Gregory said Sasaki opened his wind phone to the public to allow visitors to “call” friends and family who had died in the disaster.

Since then, Gregory said wind phones have been installed around the world. There’s one in Madison, and his project is the first one to be installed in northeastern Wisconsin.

Gregory said he worked with Barker to come up with a location for a wind phone, with Sunset Park and Big Hill Park considered as possibilities. Sunset Park ended up being the preferred location based on the number of people who go there.

“I want people to use [the wind phone],” Gregory said.

The information he provided to the council and committee/board to include on an explanatory sign to be placed near the wind phone states: “The wind phone is for all who grieve. You are welcome to find solace here. Please use it to connect with those you have lost. To feel the comfort of their memory. May you hear their voices in the wind. May you be at peace with your losses.” 

Gregory said some people may think it’s silly to place a disconnected phone in a city park to talk to people who have died, but the response he’s received from this “outside-the-box” idea has been overwhelmingly positive. 

He said he’s raised enough money to build the wind phone, which he hopes will be installed in Sunset Park around late July to early August. It will be available for the public to use year-round free of charge, and plans also include a bench to be placed there later, once the funds are raised.

To obtain more information about the wind-phone project, email Gregory at [email protected].