News-Press Online - Arbor Day Celebration

By Grace Johnson

The National Arbor Day Foundation has moved its annual Awards Banquet weekend from Arbor Day weekend to June 1-3.
Arbor Day Farm’s Susan Billups said postponing the event will enable locals to contribute their time and energy to Nebraska City’s Arbor Day festivities rather than preparing for the banquet. She said staff will be focused on carrying out a packed agenda including the planting of 50 trees at Wildwood Park and a weekend-long Children’s Festival.
Billups said Arbor Day Farm will also have a float in the Arbor Day Parade for the first time in recent years.
“We haven’t been able to have a float because we’ve been busy taking care of honorees from all over the nation,” she said.
Woody Nelson, vice president of marketing communications for the National Arbor Day Foundation in Lincoln, said moving the banquet will also allow award recipients to take part in and contribute to celebrations in their own communities. “The state foresters need to help with their own celebrations across the country,” Nelson said.
Billups said the award recipients are valuable assets to their own local Arbor Day festivities. “The very people who were so important in making Arbor Day successful were being pulled away,” she said. “Moving the banquet is a win-win.”
Nelson said the banquet honors individuals for work ranging from street beautification to rainforest projects.