Growing greenery
3 groups team up to plant trees and host city events
Three local organizations have joined forces to bring trees and activities to the city.
Growing Places, the state Greening the Gateway Cities program and Fitchburg Art Stewards will celebrate Arbor Day with a glow-inthe- dark chalk art activity during the “Bringing Light to the Environment: 2022 Lights Fest” from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Upper Common on Thursday. The event is the first Thursday exhibition of light sculptures created by city artists.
The event is part of the annual city-sponsored ArtWeek Fitchburg, which began last week and runs through this week, ending with the Spring Bazaar on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Hall. A Paint Party is slated for Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the City Hall lawn, which will result in three new community murals, which will be installed downtown by July 1. In addition, a Cinco de Mayo celebration will take place on Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. at Tacos Tequilas and there will be live music at the Boulder from 4 to 10:30 p.m. Past Artweek events include the annual Art in Bloom exhibit at the Fitchburg Art Museum that ran Thursday through Sunday.
Growing Places held an Arbor Day program on April 29 at the Leominster Public Library to highlight the national day that celebrates tree planting.
“The event was great,” Growing Places Executive Director Ayn Yeagle said. “Lots of community interest and still many who do not know about the Greening the Gateway Cities program in Leominster and that they can get free trees for their home or business.”
Last year Growing Places did a watering station installation in Leominster, which Yeagle said, “was a huge hit with the neighborhood youth.”
‘Fitchburg is heavily focused on arts and culture, so we wanted to complement efforts with tree art.’
— Ayn Yeagle, Growing Places executive director
“Environmental sustainability is critical to the work we do,” she said. “Not only do we support efforts that mitigate climate change and make our communities beautiful, healthy places to live, but preserving the environment is critical to sustainable and healthy food access.
She said Fitchburg is getting its Greening the Gateway Cities “up and going,” so this is their first time hosting an Arbor Day event in the city.
“We chose the library in Leominster to increase awareness about tree stewardship with plenty of resources about tree caretaking since Leominster has
planted 2,700 plus trees as part of the GGC program,” Yeagle said. “Fitchburg is heavily focused on arts and culture, so we wanted to complement efforts with tree art.”
She said they are hoping to plant 2,400 trees in
Fitchburg that residents and neighborhoods will water so they grow healthy and strong as part of the state Greening the Gateway Cities Program, an environmental and energy efficiency program working
to increase the number of trees planted in urban residential areas of Massachusetts Gateway Cities.
Local tree specialists and foresters plant the trees and both residents and business owners located in special planting zones can order free trees to be planted on their properties.
Yeagle said Growing Places will be available on
Thursday to answer any questions about the program and take signups for free trees.
City residents and businesses can visit maurbancanopy.org/town/fitchburg to see if they are a planting zone.