The City of Fort Worth is hosting its annual Arbor Day celebration on Friday, Nov. 1, at the Log Cabin Village. Admission won't cost a dime during the event, which is brought to us by the Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department. A kickoff to the festivities will begin with an official ceremony at the Foster House at 9:30 a.m., featuring speeches, award presentations, and the announcement of new Fort Worth Heritage Trees, according to the City of Fort Worth.
The ceremony is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as the attendees are encouraged to freely roam afterward and fully immerse themselves in an array of family-friendly activities. These include Arbor Day-themed games, craft stations, and areas designed to educate visitors on Indian marker trees and the native trees cherished by Texas pioneers. The Fort Worth Library is showing up too, with curated reading lists and giveaways in tow, while the Fort Worth Garden Club plans to give away free tree seedlings.
Celebrated statewide since its first appearance in Temple on Feb. 22, 1889, Texas Arbor Day was a passion project initiated by W. Goodrich Jones who incited a community-wide effort to line the city's streets with trees. It wasn't long until the statewide observance kicked off in Austin in 1890, thanks to Sen. George Tyler of Belton, who made it law to set aside a day for planting trees across the state. Fast forward a century and change, Texas now observes Arbor Day on the first Friday in November, a date consolidation meant to sync with the national Arbor Day celebration.
