OXFORD – The Oxford Village Tree Board will be holding its thirtieth annual “Tree City USA” Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, April 30, starting at 9 a.m., at the LaFayette Park bandstand. Plans include an award ceremony beginning with a proclamation, prize presentations to be made to three Oxford Academy fifth grade Arbor Day poster contest winners, and a give away of 100 seedling trees and, new this year, a variety of 125 seedling shrubs. The Oxford Village Tree Board encourages families and individuals to have a planting celebration of their own on Arbor Day.

Oxford was recently named a Tree City USA, for its twenty-third year in a row, by the National Arbor Day Foundation. One of the standards for that designation is that the community must have a tree board, which the village has. The Oxford Village Tree Board members are John Godfrey, Jeanie Petersen, Gray Stevens, Sandy Dain, and Jean Curtis. Accepting the Tree City USA flag and award from the DEC Forester will be the honorable Village of Oxford Mayor Terry M. Stark.

Having an Arbor Day observance is another standard, and the Tree Board enjoys coordinating this ceremony with a tree give away. The seedlings that were chosen for this year are the Norway Spruce, Picea Abies, and Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea. Both are hardy evergreen “Christmas” trees which have been purchased from the Meadowview Tree Farm LLC, a small nursery in Western NY. Both conifers have great features making the planting decision a difficult one.