UPDATE: Due to the forecast of thunderstorms in the morning, Arbor Day will be now be held inside the Rowland Community Center on 400 Myrtle Avenue, Cheltenham.
Grace Conklin Will Be Honored for Founding the Townships’ Arbor Day Program
Cheltenham Township will commemorate its 31st Annual Arbor Day Celebration on Friday, April 26, 2019. The Arbor Day presentation will include the presentation of the Tree City USA Award, and a special Proclamation and tree planting in honor of Grace Brooks Conklin, one of the founders of Cheltenham’s Arbor Day program.
In 1987, Conklin petitioned the Cheltenham Township Board of Commissioners Parks and Recreation Committee, along with the Shade Tree Advisory Commission to start a tree planting program to observe Arbor Day annually in Cheltenham Township.
Conklin took great joy in children’s participation in the Arbor Day celebrations. Conklin wanted kids to see the beauty in trees and understand their importance to the environment. She always attended the annual Arbor Day event just to see and hear the children. Conklin was a world traveler and the former owner of Grace Conklin Travel Service in Jenkintown, but her true passion was her love of trees, birds and wildlife. Conklin died on June 22, 2018.
Cheltenham Township will also receive its 21st consecutive Tree City USA Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for its continued progress in community forestry activities. Representative Julianne Schieffer representing the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Bureau of Forestry Services for Montgomery County Cooperative Extension Service will present the award on behalf of the to the Shade Tree Advisory Commission.
Cheltenham Elementary second grade classes including Paige Budin, teacher; Lisa Biscegile, assistant teacher; Matt Laude, student music teacher; Michelle Fella Przbylowski, music teacher and Nicole Young, second grade teacher will sing songs and read poems in honor of Arbor Day. Aldo Braccia’s second grade class from Myers Elementary will present Arbor Day inspired posters.
The festivities will commence on Friday at Kleinheinz Pond at 35 Tookany Creek Parkway in Chletenham at 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. In case of rain the event will be moved to Rowland Community Center, located at Myrtle and Elm Avenues in Cheltenham. Board of Commissioner’s President Daniel B. Norris (Ward 5) and Commissioner Irv Brockington (Ward 7) will make presentations during the ceremony.
The program will close Cheltenham Township giving all participants complimentary Chinese Dogwood seedlings to plant at home in honor of Arbor Day. If weather permits a Kwanzan Cherry and Pink Flowering Dogwood will be planted in honor of Grace Conklin and Arbor Day.
The annual Arbor Day Celebration is sponsored by the Cheltenham Parks and Recreation Department.