Although Arbor Day was celebrated nationally on April 24, the
Elizabeth Tree Board celebrated the holiday in May.
“It always seems to snow when we try to celebrate in April so we
decided to start doing it in May to avoid bad weather,” said
Susette Frausto, chairman of the board.
On May 16 the Tree Board along with Elizabeth community members
planted four trees in Elizabeth Tree Garden as well as announced
the winners of this year’s Tree Board poster contest. Students in
kindergarten through fifth grade from Running Creek Elementary and
Legacy Academy made posters around the theme “Trees are Terrific in
Cities and Towns.”
Students used paints, crayons and colored pencils as some of
their tools in creating their tree poster masterpieces.
On May 12 tree board staff members Frausto, Jim Richardson,
Laurie Duke and Frank Baptista, town staff members Sandy Tweedy,
Stacy Yarrington, and Michael Gibbs along with celebrity judges
Elizabeth Fire Chief T.J. Steck, Elbert County Library District
director Kari Baumann and local artist Patricia Pattison voted and
chose the top winners for each class. The students were honored at
the beginning of the Arbor Day celebration.
Frausto said the poster contest is always an exciting time of
year for the Tree Board and it is an opportunity to teach kids
about trees.
“It’s a way to get kids thinking about trees and teaches them to
respect trees,” she said. “They can learn that it’s not good to
break the branches of trees and maybe next time they see someone
else hurting a tree they can tell them not to do that to the
tree.”
Not only were students honored during the event, but so was the
Tree Board itself. It was given the Tree City USA designation by
Colorado State Forester Kristin Garrison. Tree City USA is a
program through the Arbor Day Foundation. In order to become a Tree
City USA community, the Elizabeth Tree Board had to meet certain
criteria including public outreach, sharing information about trees
to other community members and plant trees.
“This is a big deal for the Tree Board because it shows we have
been working to protect our urban forest,” she said.
Poster contest winners:
Pre-school- Jocelyn Becker, Frontier preschool
Kindergarten- Brooke Bauer, Running Creek Elementary
First grade- Kristie Davis, Running Creek Elementary
Second grade- Mason Anthony, Legacy Academy
Third grade- Delaney Roth, Running Creek Elementary
Fourth grade- Autumn Wendler, Running Creek Elementary
Fifth grade- Katelyn O’Dell, Running Creek Elementary
Public Works Department winner- Hunter Carlson, first grade
Running Creek Elementary
Mayor Artistic Excellence winner- Catie Walter, Legacy
Academy.
