Second Saturdays kick o in Arvada A bittersweet Arbor Day at Peck Elementary

Peck celebrated its 37th — and final — Arbor Day

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In the last 37 years, over 1,800 Peck Elementary School students have planted nearly 500 trees at parks across the city in recognition of Arbor Day — an annual occasion that celebrates the value of trees within the community, which was rst observed in Arvada in 1987 thanks to former Peck teacher Dudley Weiland.

On May 11, Peck students celebrated the nal Arbor Day before the elementary school closes at the end of the school year. To commemorate the bittersweet occasion, Peck fth graders teamed up with Arvada’s Forestry Team to plant 37 trees at Sunset Ridge Park — one for each year Peck observed Arbor Day.

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Olde Town Arvada’s Second Saturdays Concert Series and Street Fair kicked o in Arvada on May 13, with vendors lling the streets and musical performances from Night Routine on the Grandview Stage and Boot Gun in the Square.

e rst of four events this year, Second Saturday was threatened by looming clouds throughout the evening, which luckily didn’t materialize into major rainfall.

“We are excited to have kicked o our 11th Annual Second Saturday Summer

For the rst Arrvada Arbor Day, Weiland teamed up with former City Forester Craig Hillegass to plan the event, which seeks to promote education about the bene ts of tree preservation and planting of trees themselves.

“I remember going up to Peck Elementary School and sitting down in one of (Weiland’s) classrooms in the little chairs for the fth and sixth graders, and we planned this thing out and how we were going to do it,” Hillegass said. “ e rst year was at Lady Bug Park.

“I still go by there. e trees we planted way back then are still there. We planted a Green Ash that’s probably 40 feet tall now. We could drive around Arvada now and remember all the Arbor Days and all the trees we planted.”

For some former Peck students, like Maureen Worley, Arbor Day