In the photo: Commissioners Lissette Carey and Jimmy Weekley, Botanical Garden Executive Director Misha McRAE, Mayor Teri Johnston, Urban Forestry Manager Karen DeMaria, and Vice Mayor Sam Kaufman. Commissioners Mary Lou Hoover and Clayton Lopez were in attendance via Zoom.

Arbor Day Events

Mayor Teri Johnston and the Key West City Commission, during the April meeting, proclaimed April 27th as Arbor Day.

Arbor Day is nationally recognized on the last Friday in April and is annually observed throughout the nation and world to celebrate the role of trees in our lives and promote tree planting and care.

In honor or the proclamation, there is a plethora of events for citizens to participate in.

The City of Key West recognizes the importance of trees and its environment and has been a member of the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA for 12 years.

During the month of April, the upper elementary students at Montessori Children’s School are working with the Key West Botanical Garden and the Monroe County Extension Service program to correctly name, label, and tag the native trees in the Key West City Hall landscape.

In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, Keep Key West Beautiful and Plogging the Keys will be conducting three cleanups. On Monday, April 22, which is Earth Day, volunteers will meet beside the Beachside Hotel to clean the Triangle areas from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.  On Friday, April 26, volunteers will meet on US 1 in front of Dions Quick Mart on Stock Island for a cleanup from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. The next morning volunteers will meet from 8-9 to clean up the area behind Grace Lutheran Church on Flagler. The host for this event is District IV Commissioner Lissette Carey.

Also in honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, the Rotary Club of Key West, along with the City of Key West Community Services department, will be planting a tree at the Grinnell Street Pocket Park to replace a tree that recently died.

In addition, the Key West Botanical Garden — in collaboration with the City of Key West and the Monroe County Extension Service — will be holding an Eco-Arbor Day Fair on April 27th from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m. at the Garden on College Road. Vendor and information booths will be set up to allow the public to learn about the different eco-friendly organizations, there will be scheduled tours of the garden and the nursery, a native plant sale, a children’s art program, and a bike raffle. There will also be sustainability workshops on composting and creating a rain barrel.

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