Councilmembers Plant Trees For Georgia Arbor Day
Friday, February 21st, 2025
Dalton's annual observation of Georgia's Arbor Day has a way of landing on a frosty morning each year, but the sun came out Friday to help warm a small crowd who gathered at James Brown Park on Civic Drive to celebrate and plant trees. Friday's ceremony included the planting of a memorial tree in honor of the late Rita Norville, a longtime member of Dalton's Tree Board who passed away last year. The new trees will grow to one day shade the campus of the John Davis Recreation Center under reconstruction nearby.
Caption (from left to right) Robin Hasselberg and Dr. Chris Stearns join Councilmember Steve Farrow and Nancy Norville Hallsworth in planting a tree in honor of late Tree Board member Rita Norville
Arbor Day is a holiday set aside to celebrate the planting and cultivation of trees. It is celebrated in late April nationally, but Georgia's Arbor Day is always the third Friday in February because the winter is the best time for tree planting in the Peach State.
"Why are trees important?" asked Dr. Chris Stearns, the chairman of Dalton's Tree Board. "They help clean the air and water, provide shade that cools our houses, reduce stress, provide habitat for wildlife and ecosystems, provide medicine materials and food, and help fight climate change to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."
The Arbor Day celebration marked Dalton's 35th year of participation with the "Tree City USA" program, making Dalton one of the oldest such cities in the nation. Dalton achieved the Tree City USA designation by meeting the program’s four requirements: forming a tree board, creating a tree care ordinance for the city, having an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita, and an annual Arbor Day observance and proclamation. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the US Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
The memorial tree in honor of the late Rita Norville was planted near the entrance to the John Davis Center Parking lot along Civic Drive, near a playground. Mrs. Norville's family was honored by the tribute.
"It means a great deal," said Nancy Norville Hallsworth who assumed Mrs. Norville's seat on the Tree Board after her passing. "Rita had a true love for gardening and for the trees and the canopy of the city of Dalton and was a member of several garden clubs here in town, as am I. To be able to continue her membership in the Tree Board is heart warming. To be able to have this tree where I can bring the grandkids to see it and watch it grow is truly wonderful."
As has become a tradition for Dalton's Arbor Day celebration, the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer was read aloud before the plantings. City Councilmember Steve Farrow read a mayoral proclamation for Georgia Arbor Day in Dalton, and City Councilmember Nicky Lama also participated in the planting of a tree.
