Smokey the Bear to make appearance at Cumming’s Arbor Day

The 2022 City of Cumming's Arbor Day celebrationPhoto byCity of Cumming

(Forsyth County, GA) The City of Cumming will be celebrating its fourth annual Arbor Day at the Cumming City Center on Friday, February 17.

Arbor Day in Georgia is celebrated every year on the third Friday of February to recognize and educate the public about the importance of trees.

Cumming officially gained the title of a “Tree City” in 2021 when it met the Abor Day Foundation Tree City USA requirements of maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.

City Public Information Assistant Crystal Ledford said this year’s event will include a tree planting demonstration, free tree saplings, small Abor Day gifts like magnets and bookmarks, a food truck from Los Rios Mexican Restaurant and an interactive community project.

“We’ll have a community art project that kids and adults can take part in,” Ledford said. “We’ll have big canvases and we’ll have everyone do a timed 30 seconds to a minute [slot] that they can just go fill in as part of the tree art project.”

Smokey the Bear will also be making a special appearance for his 75th birthday with the Forsyth County Fire Department’s Wildfire Unit to hold lessons on how to prevent wildfires.

“It’s just a really fun day for family and kids to come out and learn about Arbor Day and learn about trees and how they can take care of them,” Ledford said.

The 2022 City of Cumming's Arbor Day celebrationPhoto byCity of Cumming

The City of Cumming’s Arbor Day celebration will be held on Friday, February 17 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. at the Cumming City Center. The event is free and no registration is required.

The celebration is put on with the help of Keep Forsyth County Beautiful, the Georgia Forestry Commission and the University of Georgia Extension Forsyth County. It is sponsored by the Lanier Forsyth Rotary Club.

For more information on the City of Cumming’s Arbor Day event, click here. To learn more about Arbor Day, visit arborday.org.

If you have a news tip in Forsyth County, contact Justine Lookenott at justine.lookenott@newsbreak.com.