PRESS RELEASE

2024 Rhode Island Arbor Day- Come Join Us In Honoring Trees!

Rhode Island Arbor Day will be celebrated on Friday, April 26, 2024, at the Joseph Ventetuolo Recreational Complex, Brayton Avenue, Cranston, RI (aka: Brayton Avenue Park). The celebration will start at 11AM with welcoming remarks by Cranston’s Mayor Ken Hopkins and The Honorable Jack Reed, United States Senator.  The official Rhode Island Arbor Day Proclamation will be read by the Honorable Dan McKee, Governor of Rhode Island.

Other activities will follow. They include poem readings, tree plantings, and an awards ceremony.  The poems will highlight the benefits of trees and will be performed by students from Oakland Elementary School.  Also, thirteen Rhode Island municipalities and two colleges will be honored by the National Arbor Day Foundation for their commitment to urban forestry. Presenting the awards will be by Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director, Terry Gray.  Capping the day’s event, will be the traditional Tree Planting Ceremony.   A total of seven saplings-sugar maple, red maple, and Western arborvitae- will be planted to beautify the park.

Arbor Day is the ‘tree holiday’ celebrated in the United States to recognize the importance of trees.  Rhode Island has a long and proud tradition of commemorating Arbor Day dating back to 1887.  This year’s event will mark the 137th Anniversary of Rhode Island Arbor Day.   The event is free, and the public is invited to attend. 

The Rhode Island Tree Council has had a leading role in organizing the Rhode Island Arbor Day Program since 1998.  The Tree Council has had the help of several key partners without which this annual endeavor would not have been possible. We appreciate and acknowledge their generous support.  They are the United States Forest Service, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the Rhode Island Energy Company (formerly National Grid Co).

Address for directions: Brayton Park, 18 Brayton Ave, Cranston, RI  02920

CONTACT: Robin Enos, Volunteer Coordinator, RI Tree Council e-mail: ritree@ritree.org, Telephone: 401-764-5885

PROVIDENCE, RI, April 17, 2023 — Rhode Island Tree Council (RI Tree) will hold this year’s Arbor Day celebration at Miantonomi Park, Hillside Avenue, Newport, RI, on Friday, April 28, starting at 10:30 am. The event will be hosted by the city of Newport, the Newport Tree Conservancy, and the Newport Tree and Open Space Commission. The event’s primary sponsor is the Rhode Island Energy Corporation, PPL.  The event’s secondary sponsors are the Rhode Island Tree Council and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. 

The Newport event marks Rhode Island’s 136th observance of Arbor Day, which recognizes the critical contributions of trees and forests to humanity. Governor Dan McKee will speak at the event and read the RI Arbor Day Proclamation. Children from nearby schools also will participate in the festivities. RI Tree will plant maple, elm, linden, and dogwood saplings as part of the celebration. COVID-19 restrictions will apply. RITC invites everyone to come and join in the day.

Rhode Island has had a long history with Arbor Day. According to the RI Department of Education records, the first event held in Rhode Island to honor trees occurred on April 29, 1886. Sponsored by the Barrington Rural Improvement Society, the ceremony took place on public land near the railroad station in West Barrington.

Assisted by Society members, school children planted an American elm and dedicated it to the memory of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Many more would follow. In 1892, the RI Department of Education initiated an Arbor Day Program for school children to be held in the spring of each year over the next five decades (ending 1939).