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All Saints Episcopal School held Morristown’s Arbor Day Celebration as it celebrates 21 years as a Tree City.

Students, staff and members of the community gathered outside for a celebration dedicated to trees and the city’s commitment to preserving them.

Morristown Mayor Gary Chesney explained the importance of trees to the youth.

“We need to recognize the importance of trees,” Chesney said. “They do a lot of things.”

“You may not know how we participate trees in the life cycle. Trees produce oxygen that we breathe, and we exhale carbon dioxide that gets absorbed by trees so we are in that life cycle.”

“I think about the subdivisions being built and new houses going up and ground and trees are removed to build those houses and I bet the first thing you think of is “man they need to plant some trees” and they will. That’s why Morristown is known as a tree city.”

Chesney then began to read a proclamation declaring May 4 as Arbor Day within the city.

“Therefore I, Mayor Gary Chesney, on behalf of the City Council of Morristown do hereby proclaim that May 4, 2023 as Arbor Day in the City and I urge all of the citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and protect and support efforts to protect our trees.”

Diane Warwick, Urban and Community Forestry Program, presented the Tree City award to the City of Morristown.

“Morristown is celebrating 21 years as a tree city and it means a lot to celebrate Arbor Day and be a tree city,” she said. “You can’t just call us and say, ‘Hey, Morristown wants to be a tree city,” there are four standards that must be met to qualify as a tree city.

“The first is having a tree board or a tree advocacy group that is a nonprofit that is dedicated to planting trees. The second standard is that the city must have a tree protection ordinance that is a law that states trees in public places are protected. The third is that for every person that lives in Morristown the city will spend $2 dollars per person taking care of trees in the city. The final is hosting an Arbor Day celebration.”

Warwick then presented the Tree Line Utility award to Morristown Utilities System.

“MUS is celebrating 20 years as a tree line utility,” she said. “They make sure to trim and maintain trees that are along the power lines and they do an excellent job with that.”

“When you think about heavy snow or rain and a tree damaging any power lines, Morristown Utilities comes in and fixes the damage to ensure the city still has power.”

Rick Martin, Tennessee Department of Agriculture Forestry Tech for Hamblen and Jefferson County, presented the awards for Arbor Day Poster Contest.

“The participation this year was unbelievable,” he said. “We want to thank all the schools for their participation and for sharing their talents.”

“We have done this poster contest for about 30 years and it started with the State of Tennessee and county winners would be submitted for a state wide competition but over time that got done away with. I am proud that the city has continued with the contest and celebrate the student’s talent and love for trees.”

This year the theme was Tree Poet, which asked students to present a poster depicting a tree and include a poem with their artwork.

“At first we thought this theme would be difficult for students to understand, but this year turned out to be the best year we’ve ever had,” Martin said.

With over 900 submissions from elementary students within the county the Morristown Tree Board declared the winners.

Jayme Livesay, All Saints’ Episcopal School, was awarded first place; Marley Hance, All Saints’ Episcopal School, was awarded second place and Zeda Drinnon, Union Heights Elementary School, was awarded third place.

Among the many gifts each winner received was a yard tool from Greenworks Tools, cash and gift cards from Lowes and Family Fun Zone.

Following the celebration the poster contest winners helped plant a tree at the school to commemorate the holiday.