Keep Abilene Beautiful volunteers plant trees in local park to commemorate Fall Arbor Day.

Keep Abilene Beautiful, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate in Abilene, Texas, recently hosted a tree planting event as part of Texas’s Fall Arbor Day. The offical Texas State Arbor Day is held the first Friday in November as fall allows trees to take root before harsh summer conditions. 

Keep Abilene Beautiful partnered with the Abilene Parks & Recreation Department, AEP, Abilene Christian University, and other local community partners who donated trees and expertise.

More than 60 people participated in the event, which kicked off with an educational demonstration of the importance of trees, proper care and planting, as well as safety and the awareness of proximity to electoral lines. Volunteers of all ages then broke into groups and planted 24 trees, which were donated by the ALON STRIVE program, at Lake Kirby Park. 

“It was a wonderful site seeing members from the community come together to plant trees, both young and old, friends and strangers,” said Stormwater Education & Keep Abilene Beautiful Coordinator Paige Schneider. “This was my first main event since I took the position as Keep Abilene Beautiful Coordinator, so it was a really neat sight to see.”

Participants at the event also had an opportunity to take a tree of their choosing home to plant. Keep Abilene Beautiful said there were nearly 100 different varieties of trees from oak to apple trees.