Toccoa Celebrates Arbor Day With Tree Circus for Students, Tree Planting

Tim Womack entertains and teaches students about the imporance of trees with his Tree Circus

The City of Toccoa celebrates Arbor Day while local students learn about the importance of trees.

National Arbor Day is April 27, but Toccoa will celebrate it’s 12th annual Arbor Day this Friday.

On Monday, Tim Womack brought his Tree Circus performance to Toccoa where he planted seeds of appreciation for trees into the hearts and minds of Toccoa Elementary School students.

The students gathered at the Ritz Theatre in downtown Toccoa for Womack’s lively performance about trees and why we need them.

Afterward, Womack said his love for trees and their importance began over 27 years ago with a trip to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in Robinson, North Carolina.

I was deep in the woods and tress spoke to me, ‘go tell people we are special,'” he said. “You can’t make this stuff up. So I started doing that. I am passionate about what I do and when you’re passionate thee can be no mistake. I hope these kids felt my passion and I hope they will no longer be dispassionate about the trees outside their front door where they live.”

Students then walked to the grounds of the Toccoa-Stephens County Library where rangers with the Georgia Forestry Commission planted a Dogwood seedling.

Toccoa is a participant in the Tree City USA program.

Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, to qualify as a Tree City USA community, you must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.

Those standards include creating a Tree Board, establishing a Tree Ordinance, have a Community Forestry Program With an Annual Budget of at Least $2 Per Capita, and hold an Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation.