A dreary day may have provided a rainy backdrop for Fountain Hill’s Arbor Day celebration April 27, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the small crowd that gathered at the newly renovated Public Works building on Clewell Street.

After Fountain Hill Council President Larry Rapp led the Pledge of Allegiance, Mike Klo, chairman of the Shade Tree Commission, began the ceremony by saying that trees “create oxygen, clean the air and soil, act as carbon sinks, prevent soil erosion, reduce noise pollution, act as windbreaks, slow storm water runoff, boost property values, and provide a home and shelter for wildlife.”

He quoted a Chinese proverb which says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

State Representative Jeannie McNeill also shared a few words, including a citation from Sen. Lisa Boscola recognizing Fountain Hill for its contribution to a better, more productive society. Fountain Hill has earned a designation of Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation, in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for “displaying an outstanding commitment to the preservation of the environment and the Earth’s natural resources.”

Mayor Carolee Gifford also thanked the citizens of Fountain Hill for their efforts to protect woodlands and support the borough’s forestry program.

Klo closed the borough’s annual Arbor Day celebration with a quote from Ruskin Bond’s “The World of Trees:”

To early man, trees were objects of awe and wonder.

The mystery of their growth, the movement of their leaves

and branches, the way they seemed to die and come again

to life in spring, the sudden growth of the plant from the

seed-all these appeared to be miracles as indeed

they still are, miracles of nature!