By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
With a shake of the leaves and a few tosses of dirt, Bucyrus honored its first Arbor Day celebration with the planting of five trees across the city Friday.
The celebration began on Finley Hill, which now serves as the site of Arby’s, as Mayor Jeff Reser, the Bucyrus City Tree Board, and the Gebhardt family planted a tree on the Plymouth Street side of a hill that had once been covered in trees. After reading a proclamation declaring April 28, 2017 as Arbor Day in Bucyrus, Reser and Tree Board members rolled the maple tree into a pre-dug hole and threw shovelfuls of dirt onto the newest leafy resident in Bucyrus.
Four more trees would be planted across Bucyrus before the day was done: one at Bucyrus Elementary School, another at Bucyrus High School, and two Norway Spruces donated by the Lion’s Club at Lion’s Park.
“It’s a big day, I think, for the city of Bucyrus,” Reser said as he stood before the young maple. “We’ve been working on it for at least a couple of years.”
Reser admitted wryly there had been a lot of cajoling, coercing, and even begging before he was able to get the Bucyrus City Council to approve a tree budget for 2017.
“For many of you who grew up here, you know there were a lot more trees at one time in this city. We’ve kind of dropped the ball the last 20 years,” Reser said. “Chopping trees down and not replacing them. The Arbor Day celebration is a huge step forward for the community that says ‘we care what our community looks like. We care what our tree canopy looks like in this community.’”
Elwood Gebhardt tossed the first shovelful of dirt onto the tree, followed by his wife, Sarah. They were representing their daughter, Elaine Gebhardt-Naples, who placed the winning bid at the Rotary Auctionfest to plant the first tree for the city’s Arbor Day celebration.
“Elaine would like to thank the board and Jeff for all that you’ve done to help,” Elwood Gebhardt said on behalf of his daughter. “She wants to beautify Bucyrus. That’s one of her goals to do that.”
“She is interested in anything that is going to make Bucyrus a place where tourists will want to come because she believes that’s the future in Bucyrus,” Sarah Gebhardt added. “She just wants it to be a good place where people can live.”
Sarah Gebhardt grew up not far from the newly planted tree at Finley Hill and remembered walking tree-covered streets on her way to the former Lincoln school.
“I’ve hated seeing all the trees (go away),” she said. “I’d walk to choir from clear out here and there were trees all along the main street. We just don’t have that anymore.”
Elwood Gebhardt noted that a plaque will be installed at the tree in honor of the first Arbor Day celebration in the city. Joe and Elaine Naples will have the tree dedicated to the members of the Gebhardt, McClure, Naples, and Janik families.
“Our ultimate goal is to become a Tree City,” said Tree Board president Valerie Spreng. “It takes a little bit of work, a little bit of planning. This was all part of it.
“Bucyrus is kind of an older city and some of the trees are ageing along the city,” said Spreng, who takes daily nine-mile walks through Bucyrus’ parks and knows each tree by name. “It does my heart good and the board members’ hearts good to see the trees planted to assure the aesthetic appeal of Bucyrus for generations to come. I don’t know how much of the canopy we’ll see in our lifetime, but our children and grandchildren and generations to come will maybe appreciate the efforts we have put forth.”
“I urge all citizens to observe Arbor Day to support efforts to protect our city’s trees and woodlands,” Reser said in his proclamation. “I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the wellbeing of this and future generations.”
All five trees were purchased through Oberlander’s Tree and Landscape.
Arbor Day was first observed in 1872 in Nebraska with the planting of over one million trees. The holiday is now celebrated across the nation with similar celebrations taking place across the world.