How to Celebrate Arbor Day

Arbor Day falls on the last Friday in April, and it's a great way to get people together to beautify the community. Here are some ideas for celebrating Arbor Day.

1. Plant a tree (obviously). Every tree is important, so treat this like a big deal. Careully choose a spot for your tree away from sidewalks and overhead wires. Take a picture and send it to the paper. Have your fellow planters sign a certificate with the date and a pledge to take care of the tree

2. Find the oldest tree in town. Organize a search for the tallest and/or oldest tree in your community. The winners and runners-up could appear in a walking tour of your town's most significant trees.

3. Hold an Arbor Day ceremony. This is a good way to get the people in your town to think about planting trees. You could give awards for the people who have planted the most trees. You could also honor someone who is generally a friend of the environment. You can also pass out trees at the ceremony.

4. Have kids put on an Arbor Day pageant. They can perform songs, poems and plays about trees and their importance to the community. This would be a good chance to develop children's creativity.

5. Learn about trees. Your local library will have books about how to identify trees and what kinds of birds and animals live in them. This would be a great project for teachers, both in traditional and home schools. You might learn something, too.

6. Start an Arbor Day Tree Academy. For a small fee or donation, citizens can attend classes on how to identify, plant and prune trees. You can use the money to buy tree seedlings for next

7. Organize an Arbor Day craft show. Everything has to be made of wood and other natural materials. It's like an "unplugged" concert, with nothing artificial.

8. Plan a field trip. Nobody celebrates Arbor Day like the folks in Nebraska City, Neb. That is the birthplace of Arbor Day and the site of the week-long Arbor Day celebration for students in grades 4-6. The kids will make new friends, create crafts and learn a ton about trees.