Mayor Swails celebrated Arbor Day at Holiday Farmers Market with seedling giveaways

By Martine Wolfe-Miller, PIO

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (December 14, 2009) – Mayor Billy Swails proclaimed “Arbor Day” at the Holiday Farmers Market and Craft Show on Dec. 12, and urged residents to assume responsible roles for preserving, protecting and planting trees.

“The Holiday Farmers Market provided the perfect setting to celebrate Arbor Day. We gave away more than 300 seedlings (red bud, devil wood and cherrybark oak) and invited adults and children to pot their trees and take them home,” said Mayor Swails. “The first Arbor Day was celebrated in the State of Nebraska in 1872 in response to a state proclamation urging settlers and homesteaders in that prairie state to plant trees that would provide shade, shelter, fruit, fuel, and beauty for residents of the treeless plains. Today, South Carolina and the Town of Mount Pleasant join in this national effort by celebrating Arbor Day in the early days of December.”

A steady crowd of visitors stopped by the market’s Arbor Day booth and received simple tips and ideas on how to plant a tree. “J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day more than a century ago. His simple idea of setting aside a special day for tree planting is now more important than ever. Trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce life-giving oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife," said Eddie Bernard, Certified Landscape Architect Planner III. "Trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuels for our fires, beauty for our community, and most importantly a source of joy and spiritual renewal.”

For more information about Arbor Day or tree planting, visit us online at www.townofmountpleasant.com.