Sonoma celebrates Arbor Day with Friday ceremony on Plaza

Sonoma’s annual celebration honors Conservation Award winner|

Sonoma Arbor Day events

10 to 11 a.m., Scavenger Hunt

10 a.m. to noon, arts and crafts with Artescape

11 a.m. to noon, Arbor Day Program – Grinstead Amphitheater

Noon to 12:15 p.m., tree planting

1:30 p.m., Mountain Cemetery trees hike, adults Only. Meet at the Overlook kiosk (198 First Street West)

Event held rain or shine.

Some towns and cities ignore Arbor Day, or at best give it lip service, offering green and brown crayons to kids so they can draw trees. It’s not like that in Sonoma.

Instead, as they have for years, a hundred people or more will gather at Grinstead Amphitheatre on the last Friday of April, at 11 a.m., to celebrate the connection of Sonoma with its environment.

Mayor Madolyn Agrimonti will host, 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin and state Sen. Bill Dodd will say a few words, and the 10th annual Sonoma Valley Rotary Conservation Award will be presented to this year’s recipient – landscaper Dave Waldron.

Waldron, who will accept the award from last year’s winner Karin Niehoff of Crescent Montessori School, was – at press time – unaware that he was being honored. But several Arbor Day enthusiasts wanted Index-Tribune readers to know how important he has been to the environmental health of Sonoma.

“Whenever Rotary needs something to be done, Dave’s the first one there,” said Gary Edwards, a Sonoma City councilmember and Rotary officer. “We couldn’t do it without him.”

He pointed to Waldron’s help in renovating the volleyball courts in Depot Park and caring for the blackberry bushes on Eighth Street East, to make it easier for anyone to come and glean the sweet, dark fruit.

Pets Lifeline called him to take a look at their drainage issues, and Waldron poked around, found a blocked drain and unclogged it, solving the problem.

Others mentioned his work at planting the “Secret Garden” at the Sonoma Community Center, taking plants donated from a local wedding and creating a green space that SCC can use to host weddings at the center on East Napa Street.

Waldron’s family moved to Sonoma when he was in elementary school. He is the eldest of seven children (all of whom are over six feet tall; Waldron is 6’ 5”).

Waldron used to teach school back east, and had also studied French in college. Back home in Sonoma one summer, he placed two ads in the I-T, one for French tutoring and once for landscaping. He got a lot more responses for landscaping, and went back to school to get a degree in landscape architecture – and learn Spanish, so he could speak with his crews.

He and his brother Dan founded Waldron Brothers Landscaping 30 years ago, but when Dave retired a few years ago his brother took over the company, whose trucks remain a familiar sight around town.

His wife, Marcie Waldron, was named the City of Sonoma’s Alcaldesa, or honorary mayor, in 2015.

Recipients of the Rotary Conservation Award are presented with a solid block of eucalyptus, from a tree formerly located at the south-east corner of the Plaza. The tree fell over in the early 1990s, and Bob Cannard, Sr., salvaged the wood to make furniture – and the Sonoma Valley Rotary Annual Conservation Award.

Cannard passed away just days before winning the first award himself, in 2009. Other previous winners of the award include:

2010: Tom Whitworth

2011: John Donnelly

2012: Pat Eliot and Mickey Cook

2013: Tom Rusert

2014: Karen Collins

2015:Maggie Salenger

2016: Joanna Kemper

2017: Karin Niehoff

2018: Dave Waldron

Past Arbor Day events have included the planting of a tree in the Plaza, which has a substantial collection of international trees and a “tree walk map” available at the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau. But this year, the Public Works department will be planting new tree roses, to fill out the mature Rose Garden.

Other participants include Sonoma’s City Historian, Robert Demler; flutist (and county Human Rights Commissioner) Bo Sapper; and the students of Crescent Montessori, who will pass out packets of poppy seeds. Radio station KSVY will provide the sound system.

Others participating include the Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club, the Sonoma Ecology Center, Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau and PG&E. The midday ceremony of speeches, awards, plantings, walks, music, poetry and song is a no-cost event brought to you by the City of Sonoma Community Services and Environmental Commission.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.

Sonoma Arbor Day events

10 to 11 a.m., Scavenger Hunt

10 a.m. to noon, arts and crafts with Artescape

11 a.m. to noon, Arbor Day Program – Grinstead Amphitheater

Noon to 12:15 p.m., tree planting

1:30 p.m., Mountain Cemetery trees hike, adults Only. Meet at the Overlook kiosk (198 First Street West)

Event held rain or shine.

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