The town of Niskayuna held its 5th annual Arbor Day event on Sat. April 25, 2020 at the Niskayuna Town Hall. This year, due to covid restrictions, it was a drive-through event. The event included handing out 200 trees to local residents, and a “kit” that included the history of Arbor Day, coloring pages, a scavenger hunt, word games, a reading list of books about trees, and other activities. The choice of trees that residents could select included white spruce, paw paw, eastern redbud, sugar maple, black walnut, rose of sharon, and balsam fir.
Additionally, a livestream event was held during which Niskayuna’s Town Supervisor, Yasmine Syed, and Town Board member, Denise McGraw, spoke about the Arbor Day event, and 3 beautiful Sourwood trees were planted at the Niskayuna Town Hall. In addition, Tree Council Chair, Carol Carey, spoke about the benefits of the Sourwood tree; a poem was read by Tree Council member, Melissa McKinnon; a short, fun “tree” quiz was given by Town Council member, Rosemarie Perez-Jaquith; Julie Lohre of Community Programs demonstrated how to do a bark rubbing; and Laura Robertson, Town Planner, read the children’s story Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland.
This year’s event had the largest attendance to date, and the Town Board and Tree Council were very pleased with the interest in this year’s event and participation by the local residents.