The east end of North Park was filled with exhibitors celebrating the value of trees and offering a variety of educational demonstrations about trees in the Celebration of Trees event on September 17, 2016. "We have a great deal of activities and stations all manned by volunteers from the Fall River Street Tree Planting Program," (FRSTPP) stated  FRSTPP President Mary Ann Wordell. She was joined by Co-president Torrey Adams who will be succeeding the long-standing advocate for the program when she steps down. Exhibits featured leaf identification, reading tree rings, beneficial and bad insects, composting, live bees, storytelling and a professional arborist from Davey Resource Group to answer questions about trees. The event was designed to promote awareness of the benefits that trees bring to a community. Click here for a nine-minute   video of the event. Click here for photos of a tree-planting event held on Arbor Day, April 29, 2016. For more information, to the the Street Tree Planting Facebook page or contact Mary Ann Wordell at 508-679-8887.

(Top row, left and right) Volunteer arborist Dennis Brodeur talks with  Fall River Street Tree Planting Program (FRSTPP) volunteer John Sylvia and Fall River Department of Community Maintenance Adriano Ponceano at his exhibit on tree identification including samples of tree leaves, bark and seeds. (Top row, center) FRSTPP President Mary Ann Wordell and Co-President Torrey Adams pose for a photo during an on-camera interview. (Row two) Ms. Wordell explains the difference between good and bad insects to eleven-year-old Matthew Pinault and his grandmother, Pauline Grocott. (Row three) Exhibits show some of the destructive bugs, including the Asian Longhorned Beetle, and an exhibit on tree bark identification. (Row four) Hive Gotta Buzz Beekeeper Eric Pilotte talks with a volunteer Joyce Rodrigues while volunteer Tim Lockett helps a child identify a tree leaf while Mary Shotwell works with seven-year-old Sophia Rezendes and six-year-old Theodore Oliveira on bark identification. (Bottom row) As his younger brother, Bennett, looks on, Brennan Martins describes the length of a worm he once found to volunteer Charlene Setzer and talks with volunteer Melanie Leite about composting before joining Swansea Public Library Volunteer Carol Gafford for a reading of a story about trees.