April, 27, 2022 – ROCHESTER, MN – Rochester Public Utilities (RPU), with partners Maier Tree & Lawn and Rochester Parks & Recreation, and Sargent’s Gardens will host the 20^th Annual Arbor Day Celebration on Friday, April 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Three Links-Silver Lake Park, located at 840 7th St NE in Rochester.

The fun and free community event will feature a variety of activities and displays that will include: A tree giveaway (while supplies last), a free lunch of hot dogs, corn on the cob, chips, cookies, and soda will be provided (while supplies last), and live music from PK Mayo Quartet. Tree experts will also be on hand to answer questions on tree planting and care, along with many other vendor activities and information.

Children will be able to enjoy Smokey Bear, tree medallion necklace, apple toss game, tree ring toss game, bean bag toss, and much more!

At noon, an awards ceremony will honor Rochester elementary school students who were selected as finalists of the Arbor Day poster contest, as well as this year’s overall winner, Jia-Xin Fan, a 4th grader at Gibbs Elementary. Jia-Xin will receive a $100 ABC & Toy Zone gift card, her winning poster will be featured in RPU’s 2023 calendar, and a tree will be planted in her honor at Gibbs Elementary School. This year’s poster contest theme was “Trees Are Terrific and They Keep Our Water Clean!”

RPU line crews will also collaborate with Rochester Parks & Recreation on a tree planting for The Right Tree in the Right Place program on May 5^th. This is an annual event to plant the proper type of boulevard trees in different neighborhoods in Rochester.

Co-Sponsors of this year’s event include: Hy-Vee, Jim Whiting Nursery & Garden Center, Minnesota Energy Resources, Pepsi, and Seneca Foods.

In the event of rain, the celebration will be moved to Rochester Community & Technical College’s Field House.

About Rochester Public Utilities

As the municipal utility of Rochester, MN, for more than 110 years, RPU provides high quality and reliable electricity to over 58,000 customers.  Water customers number more than 41,000.  RPU continually investigates innovative technologies to help customers realize the best value from the services they receive.  Current initiatives include photovoltaic offerings, wind energy, energy and water efficient equipment, and electric vehicle charging.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 27th, 2022 at 8:26 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.