The 15th annual fun tree-planting bee is set to take place May 10th in the Bower neighbourhood.

Event organizer Larry Barabonoff asks for the community to come out and support the event by meeting at Bower Hall, 85 Boyce St. at 9:15 a.m.

Tree planting will begin at 9:30 a.m. and continue until 11 a.m. after which volunteers are welcomed back to Bower Hall where there will be snacks, refreshments and prize draws.

“We try to make it as fun as possible,” he said. “Various local businesses have provided us with door prizes and we hope to have everyone walk away with something whether it’s a gift certificate or a shovel.”

He explained he and the volunteers usually plant anywhere from 500-800 trees a year, which has led to the planting of over 8,000 trees in the past 15 years.

Thanks to a partnership with the City, which provides Barabonoff with trees, spades and shovels, volunteers are asked only to bring gloves for personal use if need be and a water bottle to last the hour.

The planting bee will start at Bower Hall and plant trees along a path, which leads to Westerner Park.

“It’s a really great feeling to be able to walk down the path and have some trees along the way and say to yourself ‘I think I planted that tree over there a few years ago, look at how much it has grown’,” said Barabonoff.

“Because we live in Bower and walk the path often it is kind of like watching a child grow up, as you watch the trees get bigger over the years and it is truly an incredibly rewarding feeling.”

Over the past years, Barabonoff and his volunteers have planted mainly spruce trees however they have begun to experiment with planting Saskatoon bushes in recent years as well.

He explained the trees have taken extremely well to the land over the past 15 years, with only minor set backs such as an accidently mowing of the newly planted trees one year.

“We started with only a few people and now we are up to an average of 40-50 people, with more people if the weather is nice.”

For more information on the event, phone 403-347-6994.

jswan@reddeerexpress.com