Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Scott Williams Layla Sperberg, center in pink, joins other students in helping to plant a tree Wednesday outside Atrium Post-Acute Care at Birch Hill, 1475 Birch Hill Lane.
Leader Photo by Scott Williams Kindergartner Brooke Cavanaugh, right, admires her small tree at ceremonies Wednesday celebrating Arbor Day in Shawano.
Arbor Day 2016 has left Shawano quite a bit more green.
City leaders handed out dozens of small trees to school children and others Wednesday in honor of the holiday celebrating a world filled with beautiful trees.
At a ceremony hosted by the Shawano Tree Advisory Committee, kids also helped city crews plant a tree outside Atrium Post-Acute Care at Birch Hill, 1475 Birch Hill Lane.
Shawano Mayor Jeanne Cronce treated the kids to a reading of the book, “The Giving Tree,” and then urged them to come back often to visit the tree they were helping to plant.
“A tree has a long, long life,” Cronce said. “And it can give us many years of pleasure.”
Honored with Nature’s Friend Awards for outstanding landscaping of their properties were homeowner Kathy Stoltenow, 420 W. Highview Ave., and the Atrium Post-Acute facility on Birch Hill Lane.
State conservation officials joined the ceremony and recognized Shawano for its forestry efforts, while Shawano Municipal Utilities donated $2,000 to promote future tree-planting in the community.
Students from Hillcrest Primary School and LEADS Primary Charter School all received small white pine and white spruce trees to take home with them.
City Forester Mike Kroenke encouraged the kids to take pride in their trees.
“Remember, you planted that tree,” Kroenke said. “So you take care of that tree.”