Hug a tree, or two or three Hug a tree, or two or three (February 27, 2004)

City holds Arbor Day party

By Dan Stapleton

If you are looking for quality "edutainment" that appeals to children of all ages, look no further than the city of Mountain View's fourth annual Arbor Day celebration in Pioneer Park on March 13.

Arbor Day is a celebration of trees and plants that began during the 1870s in Nebraska and quickly spread across the nation. California celebrates Arbor Day between March 7 and March 14, but other states celebrate it on different days according to the best time of the year to plant trees in that part of the country.

The city's Arbor Day celebration took a nine-year hiatus due to budget constraints from 1992 to 2000, but was revived in 2001 and has been observed ever since.

"The goal of the event is an awareness of the trees and, almost secondarily, environmental awareness," said Bruce Hurlburt of the city's Forestry and Roadway Landscape Division. Hurlburt says that between 200 and 300 people usually turn out for the celebration, including many families and children.

The Arbor Day celebration, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 11:15 a.m. Mountain View Mayor Matt Pear will give a proclamation and, with the assistance of children from the community, help plant a new tree in the park. Afterwards, there will be free food, face painting and activities for children, a raffle with prizes, and tours of Pioneer Park's diverse plant population.

"We have some very interesting and stately trees in the park. These would be both coast and coast live, and valley oaks, and some beautiful deodar cedars. We have, for anybody that's interested, a couple of arborists that will guide people around the park and give them information on them," said Hurlburt.

In the case of rain, the celebration will be moved to Mountain View City Hall.

E-mail Dan Stapleton at dstapleton@mv-voice.com

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