In celebration of Arbor Day on April 29, 2011, Mary Ann Wordell, Fall River's Street Tree Planting coordinator, was joined by Priscilla Brightman and Doris Thorton at the top of North Park on Highland Avenue to mark the occasion by planting a memorial tree. Fall River Mayor William Flanagan joined the group for a brief ceremony on a sunny but windy morning. The tree will join others, 57 of which have been purchased since 2004 with funds donated by the Mass Re-Leaf Ministry. Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care. National Arbor Day, founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872, is celebrated on the last Friday in April. Click here for photos of a 2009 Arbor Day event at the Fall River Library. For more information about the Street Tree Planting program, please contact Mary Ann Wordell at 508-679-8887.
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(Top row) Doris Thornton listens as Street Tree Planting coordinator Mary Ann Wordell talks about the tree that she is planting in memory of her mother, Alice Boulay Wordell, on Arbor Day before greeting Fall River Mayor William Flanagan. (Middle row) Mayor Flanagan takes a shovel and finishes planting the tree, an Amur Maple "Ruby Slippers". (Bottom row, left and right) First place winners of the Arbor Day poster contest, 5th-grader Jessica Pabon of the Fonseca School and 3rd-grader Abagail Rose of the Tansey School, are on display along with others in the lobby of Government Center.