Grosse Pointe Shores to celebrate 20th anniversary as Tree City USA

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — Grosse Pointe Shores will be marking its 20th anniversary as a Tree City USA with an Arbor Day Fun Run and Arbor Day activities starting at 9 a.m. May 7 at Osius Park.

The event is a 1-mile, 3K or 5K course open to Shores runners, walkers, inline skaters and those walking with strollers. The course extends from Osius Park to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House and back. There’s a $5 entry fee per walker or runner, which includes a commemorative T-shirt.

“It’s nice to see,” Mayor Ted Kedzierski said. “We have (people on) rollerblades. We have people on skateboards. … It’s a great day. You see a lot of grandparents with their grandchildren.”

He said there’s usually a water station in front of the Ford House. The full course is about 3 miles, Kedzierski said.

Being a Tree City USA “allows us to apply for grants and is a matter of civic pride,” said Brett Marshall, chair of the Shores Tree Board.

The city and the nonprofit Grosse Pointe Shores Improvement Foundation both plant trees annually in the Shores to maintain the tree population.

Marshall said the Tree Board was launched in 2002 and meets quarterly.

“The purpose of the board is to maintain a healthy and diverse tree population,” Marshall said.

The importance of tree diversity is one of the topics attendees of the city’s Arbor Day activities will learn about this year, Beautification Advisory Committee Chair Helen Bai said. There will also be information about the founder of Arbor Day, J. Sterling Morton, who graduated from the University of Michigan.

There will be tree-related fun at Osius Park following the run/walk, include door prizes of maple syrup, a guessing game involving the number of pinecones in a jar and a special 20th anniversary cake. By email, Bai said the “fabulously talented Jenay Tripp” would be doing face-painting again.

“She has done face painting for the Shores previously to rave reviews,” Bai said via email.

The city’s Arbor Day festivities — open to Grosse Pointe Shores residents and their guests — usually attract about 50 to 120 people each year, Kedzierski said.

“Weather determines the turnout,” Kedzierski said.

For a fun run registration form or more information about Arbor Day, visit www.gpshoresmi.gov.