Sugar City will host its annual Arbor Day celebration Friday, May 8 at Triangle Park.
Arbor Day is acknowledged by the National Forest Association as "a national recognized day to plant a tree," says Lynsey Bean, an organizer on the Sugar City Beautification Committee.
The theme of Sugar City's celebration this year is "trees anchor our city."
The celebration will include a variety of events, such as a reading of the Arbor Day proclamation, the presentation of the tree city award by a National Forestry representative from Boise, singing by students from Kershaw Intermediate school, and of course, the tree planting, where children of all ages will take turns putting scoops of dirt on the new tree as it's planted.
There will also be an art contest for all students in 3rd through 5th grade where they will draw trees and prizes will be awarded to the students with the best drawings. Several businesses in Rexburg will donate prizes for the contest winners.
Sugar City qualifies as a "tree city," which is the title given to a city when it plants and maintains a certain number of trees per year. This is Sugar City's 23rd straight year as a tree city.
Bean says Sugar City has a long history with trees, which began back in the early 1900’s with Mark Austen who encouraged residents to plant trees and make Sugar City a "living, workable and breathable city.”
Bean encourages everyone to come and celebrate with the city.
"I think it's just a great opportunity to help celebrate Arbor Day," says Bean. "What do we usually get to do for Arbor Day? Not many of us get to do anything so it's really just a fun way to come and support a community and see all of the cute kids and all of their artwork and the effort they've put in. You can listen to the songs and participate in our community and the things that are around us that we can do some good with."
The event helps children make an impact on the community from an early age.
"It's just the joy on their face," Bean says. "They are always so excited to come to this. It's really fun to see that and start that excitement in them when they're younger of participating in the community and helping plant and build and do things in the community around them."
Sugar City's Arbor Day celebration is Friday, May 8 at 10 a.m. at Triangle Park. For more information, visit Sugar City’s website.