GATLINBURG, Tenn.—Students of Pi Beta Phi Elementary School in downtown Gatlinburg gathered to conduct their annual Arbor Day Observance ceremony on Friday afternoon, April 12.
The annual Observance is celebrated by Pi Beta Phi Elementary students every year and serves as the ceremony that allows Gatlinburg to claim its Tree City USA status from the Arbor Day Foundation. The City of Gatlinburg has received its Tree City USA designation for 36 years, dating back to 1988. Gatlinburg is one of 45 municipalities in the State to be designated as a Tree City USA.
“There are a lot of entities that work in conjunction that make this happen,” Brook Smith with the Tennessee Department of Forestry explained to the Pi Beta Phi student body, regarding Gatlinburg’s designation as a Tree City USA. “A very small percentage of cities in Tennessee are recognized as a Tree City, so this makes your City very special.”
Smith outlined to the students of the school that the four standards that must be met to become a Tree City are: having an Ordinance to protect public trees, have an active Tree Board, that the City must spend $2 for every person that resides in the City to take care of trees and an annual Arbor Day celebration must be held.
“This ceremony is a big part of why Gatlinburg is a Tree City USA,” Smith told the students. “Thank you all for coming together to recognize Arbor Day.”
The Arbor Day ceremony was also marked by musical performances by Pi Beta Phi Elementary students, remarks from Gatlinburg Recreation Director Laurence Evans, and a proclamation from Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner, designating Friday, April 12 as Arbor Day in the City.
As has become a tradition of the annual Arbor Day Observance at Pi Beta Phi, students from the school help to plant a tree on the school’s campus. This year’s tree was planted in memory of Stacey Adams, whose love and dedication to Pi Beta Phi’s PAC Program will always be remembered.
Members of Adams’ family, Pi Beta Phi students, and Gatlinburg Recreation Department staff helped to plant the tree outside the school following the ceremony.
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