Community Corner
Middletown Arbor Day Celebration 4-30-21 At 2 P.M.
MIDDLETOWN URBAN FORESTRY COMMISSION PRESENTS "ARBOR DAY 2021" ON FRIDAY, APRIL 30TH AT THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT 151 MAIN
MIDDLETOWN URBAN FORESTRY COMMISSION PRESENTS “ARBOR DAY 2021” ON FRIDAY, APRIL 30TH AT THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT 151 MAIN STREET AT 2 P.M.
Happy Arbor Day, Friday, April 30th!
What is Arbor Day and how did it start?
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Arbor Day like Earth Day encourages people to be earth friendly and to be kind to nature by planting a tree in honor or memory of a loved one according to the Old Farmer's Almanac article "Arbor Day 2021: Learn Why We Celebrate Arbor Day-And Plant A Tree!" "Its purpose is to encourage people to plant trees, and many communities traditionally take the opportunity to organize tree-planting and litter-collecting events on or around the holiday," according to the above article.
How did Arbor Day begin? It came about through Nebraska resident Julius Sterling Morton. After he married his wife they moved to the new territory of Nebraska where they bought 160 acres of treeless farmland and made it their home. There he planted thousands of trees such as an apple orchard, peach, plum, pear, cottonwoods, evergreens, beeches, and more noted the Old Farmer's Almanac's article. Due to Morton's fondness for trees, he took every opportunity to help spread the word about planting trees and he gave speeches "...to plant trees and try new crops," according to the same article.
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Morton was an American politician and journalist. He was the Editor of the Nebraska City News newspaper. In the newspaper he wrote articles about agriculture and he urged his readers to plant trees. Morton believed that trees had a purpose such as "...serve as effective windbreaks, protecting crops from erosion and overexposure to the sun, and would provide fuel and building materials," according to Britannica.com's article "Arbor Day."
Morton wrote "Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future.”
The date of April 10, 1872 was when the first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska City, Nebraska and approximately one million trees were planted that day according to the article in the Old Farmer's Almanac. In 1885, Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska and in twenty years Arbor Day was recognized in every state except Delaware which eventually celebrated Arbor Day. The date of April 22 was originally chosen as Arbor Day because of the "...ideal weather for planting trees and in recognition of Morton’s birthday," according to the article "History of Arbor Day" from History.com. In 1970, President Richard Nixon recognized Arbor Day nationally & declared the last Friday in April will be Arbor Day. This was done to coincide with the other environmental legislation that was passed like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act & the Endangered Species Act.
Connecticut also had an advocate for trees and Arbor Day. This person was Birdsey Grant Northrop. His contributions were the involvement of school children in this event and he also turned Arbor Day into a ceremonial event "...that laid the foundation of this now well-established tradition," according to the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection website. Mr. Northrop was the Secretary for the Connecticut Board of Education. He went to Europe to study schools. As a result of this trip, he wrote a report in 1879 "Forestry In Europe" which the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture took note of. Due to this report the Board of Agriculture "...requested an investigation and report on promoting forestry in Connecticut. As a result of this investigation, the State Legislature declared in 1886 that "The Governor shall annually, in the spring, designate by official proclamation an Arbor Day, to be observed in the schools and for economic tree planting," according to the CT DEEP website. The first Arbor Day in Connecticut was on April 29, 1887. Connecticut held Arbor Day festivities every year since then and occurred between the first week of April and the second week of May noted the CT DEEP website. But when President Nixon formally declared that Arbor Day Celebrations be held the last Friday in April Connecticut followed his lead according to the CT DEEP website.
The City of Middletown Urban Forestry Commission will be presenting a program on Arbor Day, on Friday, April 30th at the Middlesex County Historical Society at 151 Main Street in Middletown at 2 p.m. Mayor Benjamin Florsheim will issue an Arbor Day Proclamation. There will be a Tree Dedication ceremony for Middletown's Connecticut Legislative Delegation which includes Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, State Senator Matthew Lesser, State Representative Brandon Chafee, State Representative Quentin Phipps, former State Representative Joseph Serra & Executive Director for the Jonah Center John Hall. Jane Harris, the Chairperson of the Urban Forestry Commission and Jesse Nasta, the Executive Director of the Middlesex County Historical Society will also speak.
Middletown will be receiving a "Tree City USA" award for the 31st year from the National Arbor Day Foundation and it will be presented by Ms. Danica Doroski, the Urban Forestry Coordinator from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. If you attend this event, please enter through the Spear Park gate to access the back-lawn area. Most importantly please wear a mask and follow the social distancing guidelines by remaining six feet apart. Please do your part to continue to flatten the curve due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information about the Arbor Day event in Middletown please call 860-638-3500 ext. 3506. For more information about Arbor Day please see the following websites:
https://www.history.com/topics...
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/...
