Mayor Foster Senn and City of Newberry staff visited Gallman Elementary School on Friday, December 3 for their annual Arbor Day tree planting. Arbor Day marks the beginning of tree planting season. Climate determines when this is in any given area and South Carolina’s planting season begins in December and ends in mid-March. In other states, Arbor Day is celebrated in April.

The city typically rotates each year to a different city elementary school to hold the planting ceremony. The school then receives a tree of their choosing to plant on school grounds. This year, Gallman chose a Trident Maple tree that was planted in front of the school.

Mayor Foster Senn shared the history of Arbor Day with the classes present for the ceremony and shared the importance of trees to a community.

Senn said some of his favorite trees were in downtown Newberry and that we were able to enjoy them because someone took the initiative to plant them many years ago.

“In five years, the tree we’re planting today will be much bigger,” he said. “We plan trees today so that people can enjoy them in the future.”

City Manager Matt DeWitt said it was always nice to circle back to the schools some years later to see how the trees were doing on their respective campuses.

“Many have grown into nice shade trees now and we hope are appreciated on those hot South Carolina summer days,” he said.