The day was sunny with a slight breeze at 11 a.m. Saturday morning when Brentwood residents came together to celebrate Arbor Day. The Brentwood Tree Board invited people to celebrate the environmental holiday at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library by taking part in nature-inspired activities including the popular acorn-guessing contest.
Attendees had the opportunity to take home a free seedling, or two, to plant on their own. The celebration also featured several vendors and an opportunity to speak with arborists.
Brentwood annually honors the holiday with a tradition of Arbor Day festivities. In 1875, Tennessee became one of the first states to celebrate Arbor Day, which J. Sterling Morton first founded in Nebraska in 1872. According to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA), the day is about creating “a better understanding of nature and the importance of protecting wildlife, planting and cultivating flowers, and setting and protecting trees.”
Brentwood City Commissioner Ken Travis explained the event took almost five months of planning, not just to coordinate the vendors but to prepare the seedlings.
“We’ve got 2,100 seedlings to give away and each one had to be individually bagged up so that we can hand them out.”
Most of the seedlings were gone before the program began at 11:40 a.m. Many visitors could be seen with a bag of trees browsing the displays or enjoying a free sweet treat from Bradley’s Creamery.
A crowd gathered for this year’s program which was opened by Brentwood mayor Rhea Little. During the ceremony, the mayor shared the city will be planting a tree in honor of longtime City Commissioner Regina Smithson, who passed away last summer.
“My one request is as we see this tree grow - and some of you will one day sit under the shade of it - is to capture some of her spirit for community service.”
Smithson served on the commission for over 30 years, and according to Little was the “epitome of a true servant” in her personal life and to the city of Brentwood.
Lynn Tucker, chair of the city’s Tree Board, took to the podium to announce the winners of the poster art and writing contests. This year’s theme was “Trees Have Flair." All 69 posters in their color-filled glory have been on display in the library for the month of March.
The program ended with a word of thanks from the TDA and the reveal of exactly how many acorns were in the jar from the acorn contest. In case you are curious, the answer is 945.
The Tree Board succeeded in hosting an event to share with residents, new and old, the vital role trees play in the community. Many attendees say this year’s celebration is their largest turnout.
“I love a chance to come together and be neighbors to one another, said Travis. “This is actually an outpouring of neighbors is what it is.”