Arbor Day springs eternal in Millerton

Though there were some clouds overhead, the shady skies couldn’t put a damper on Millerton’s Arbor Day celebrations on Saturday, April 26. Townscape, the community beautification group that makes all sorts of improvements in the town of North East and the village of Millerton — including tree plantings and holiday decorations — hosted the annual Arbor Day event for its second time.“Arbor Day is very special to us,” said Townscape President Christopher Kennan. “Townscape was founded on wanting to make a visual difference in Millerton and North East, particularly with the planting of trees, and there are now quite a few trees planted in Millerton.”Most of them courtesy of Townscape. One of the group’s goals is to line Dutchess Avenue with crab apple trees. On Saturday it was happy to install a new crab apple in front of Memorial Park, in a prime location on Main Street.“We can’t have enough of these wonderful trees,” read Sherrell Andrews, quoting from the Cat in the Hat book, “I Can Name 50 Trees.” Andrews read aloud from the book as part of the day’s festivities to a very happy audience of young children. Afterward she gave away copies of the book to not only the children present, but also to the North East Community Center and to the NorthEast-Millerton Library.As is so frequently the case, Dr. Seuss nailed it on the head.“We can’t have enough of these wonderful trees,” he wrote, “so when you see bare spots go plant a tree, please.”Students from the North East (Webutuck) Central School District were in the spirit as well. They stopped by the event with Betsey McCall, the after-school program coordinator who works with a number of middle school students in the district’s community garden.“We’ve been doing so much gardening and planting at school and that’s why we wanted to come out and support this,” McCall said. Seventh-grader Eva Watson said it was the simple things about being in a garden that appeal to her most.“I like the fresh air,” she said, “and I have a vegetable garden at home. At school we planted snow peas and sugar-snap peas. When you have a garden you know [your food is] clean and fresh.”“And it helps the environment,” chimed in fellow seventh-grader Michael Cobern, who added he plans to continue gardening as he grows older. North East town Supervisor John Merwin was also on hand; he said the event, and the group behind it, deserved a lot of credit.“The trees, the plantings, the decorating — we could go on and on,” he said. “But primarily what impresses me most is that Townscape has brought so many people together from all facets of the community on things that are positive. I thank all of you for what you’ve done. It’s tremendous.”“I think Arbor Day is in our DNA,” said Kennan. “The only problem will be when we run out of places to plant trees, which hopefully won’t be for a long, long time.”