FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 19, 2007
CONTACT: Tony Benson
Communications Coordinator
507-280-1534
tbenson@rpu.org

State Arbor Day Celebration to be held in Rochester on April 27
Public Invited to Celebrate “Trees Are Terrific … and Forests are too!”

ROCHESTER, MN--- Rochester Public Utilities (RPU), Maier Forest and Tree, Rochester Park and Recreation, and the Minnesota DNR will hold its annual Arbor Day celebration on Friday, April 27. This year will mark the first year that Rochester’s Arbor Day event will be recognized as the Arbor Day event for the State of Minnesota.

The day’s festivities will begin at Central Park in downtown Rochester. Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Mayor Ardell Brede will be one of several guest speakers in attendance. He will announce and present awards to the winners of the elementary school Arbor Day poster contest, tree seedlings from the Minnesota DNR will be available while supplies last, and an additional 500 free trees will be given away. Lunch of hot dogs and soda will be provided, along with music from Paul Mayasich with Benderheads. Smokey Bear and a balloonist will attend and information on tree planting and city forestry will be on display.

The afternoon activities will move to Seneca Foods where multiple tree plantings will take place with the assistance of the elementary poster contest’s grand prize winner’s class.

Also in the afternoon, another tree planting ceremony will take place at Hoover Elementary. MaKenzie Birkestrand, a 4th grader at Hoover Elementary, is the 2007 elementary poster contest grand prize winner. MaKenzie’s poster will be used as the logo for the 2008 Arbor Day celebration.

Other participants in the Arbor Day event include Family Tree Landscape Nursery, The Home Depot, Hy-Vee, Jim Whiting Nursery & Garden Center, Nature's Way Landscape and Nursery, RNeighborWoods, Rochester Public Works, Sargent's Gardens, and Seneca Foods.

RPU’s Partners in Planting program encourages tree planting for conservation with an online coupon available on the RPU web site, www.rpu.org, for $10 off qualifying shade trees purchased at Family Tree Landscape Nursery, Jim Whiting Nursery & Garden Center, Nature’s Way Landscape and Nursery, and Sargent’s Gardens.

RNeighborWoods will be hosting a tree planting event on the following day, Saturday, April 28 at 9:30 a.m. A majority of the trees were purchased by RPU and are going to be planted along Elton Hills Dr. to replace trees that had to be removed due to safety and electric reliability concerns. Trees that will be planted include Serviceberry, Tree Lilac, Adams Crabapple, and Gingko trees.

About Rochester Public Utilities

As the municipal utility of Rochester, Minn., for more than 110 years, RPU provides high-quality and reliable electricity to over 45,000 customers. Water customers number more than 34,000. RPU continually investigates innovative technologies to help customers realize the best value from the services they receive. Current initiatives include fuel cell research, wind power, and photovoltaic offerings.

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