Arbor Day Celebrated with Poetry, Songs
Published: Friday, May 13, 2022
Arbor Day was celebrated at Mary Raber Elementary School on April 29.
The afternoon's program began with Columbia City Mayor Ryan Daniel reading a proclamation declaring April 29 as Arbor Day in Columbia City. He also explained that some of the trees growing along Columbia City's streets are considered city trees and the city has to maintain the health of those trees.
This means the city must remove them when they become either diseased or dying or are a danger to the city residents. The city then is responsible for replacing the trees that they have removed. This is done with the help of the Columbia City tree board.
The afternoon program featured songs about trees, reading poetry about trees and telling jokes with a tree theme. One of the featured songs was a rendition of "Shoulders, Knees and Toes," but it was "Roots, Trunks, Limbs and Leaves." An example of one of the jokes was: "Did you hear the joke about Arbor Day? It will leaf you laughing."
The audience was made up of second-graders at Mary Raber, parents and grandparents and tree board members.
As the second-graders left the gymnasium, they were given white pine seedlings to take home and plant. The trees were a gift from the Whitley County Soil and Water Conservation District. Nadean Lamle, office manager for the SWCD, and tree board member Gloria Banker handed out the trees to the second-graders.
The Columbia City tree board had planted a crab apple tree earlier in the week in front of the school to match the crab apple tree that the tree board had planted last year to honor Arbor Day.
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