Today, Manassas held its 38 Annual Arbor Day Celebration at Liberia House Manor at at 10 a.m.
To mark the event, the city held an Elementary School Poster Contest themed ‘May the Forest Be With You.’ It included students from Pre-K to 4th grade, and its winners were recognized at the Arbor Day Celebration.
The contest’s Grand Prize included $50 to the student and $100 to their school’s art department. Trophies were awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place, and honorable mentions for each grade level. This year’s winner was Zoe Fernandez Anaya of Baldwin Elementary.
Also today, Manassas celebrated its 32nd designation as a Tree City USA community. Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger, members of the city Beautification Committee, Community Forest Specialist at Virginia Dept. of Forestry Lindsey Long, and Dan Spoden, an arborist for Manassas, spoke about the importance of preserving trees, pollinators, and nature in Manassas and how important our participating students are to the future.
The City of Manassas accepted four trees from the Beautification Committee for planting.
The Liberia House, a plantation built in 1925 with the labor of 90 slaves, was purchased by the city in 1986. Today, the house is open for special events and tours.
Arbor Day, which encourages conversation, took route in the 1850s in Nebraska.
