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Poster puts some pop in Basalt’s Arbor Day

Scott Condon
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO, Colorado
Contributed imageBasalt Middle School fifth-grader Tessa Conrardy won the town's Arbor Day poster contest with this colorful entry. Conrardy told the Town Council, "Trees mean a lot to me."
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BASALT – Basalt Middle School fifth-grader Tessa Conrardy provided the inspiration to help the town celebrate Arbor Day later this month.

Conrardy created the winning entry in Basalt’s Arbor Day poster contest. Posters were entered by 73 kids following the theme “Celebrate Trees in Our Community.” A panel led by Basalt Mayor Jacque Whitsitt and town horticulturist Lisa DiNardo culled a strong field down to the favorite.

Conrardy was honored by the Town Council on Tuesday night for her colorful, two-season entry. Her poster featured a drawing of a majestic, smiling tree split into two scenes and seasons. One side showed two people collecting a bounty of ripe, red apples off a green-leafed tree. The other half featured gold and orange leaves falling from the tree and getting collected into a pile that kids were jumping into.



“The main aspect about this poster is trees mean a lot to me,” Conrardy told the council members. Treesare an important part of the community, she said, and they are an important part of her.

DiNardo said she appreciated how Tessa “looked at the value of trees. She did a kid’s perspective.”




All of the entries in the Arbor Day poster contest can be viewed at https://picasaweb.google.com/basaltgardens/2013BasaltArborDayPosterContest#.

Conrardy’s poster will be on display in Town Hall for Colorado Arbor Day on April 19. (Different states celebrate Arbor Day on different dates. Colorado officially recognizes it on the third Friday of the month.)

Basalt’s public gardens and Community Forestry Department will celebrate Arbor Day in a tree-planting ceremony with the Basalt Middle School Student Council. They will clean up an area west of the 7-Eleven in Basalt. Two Peking lilacs will be placed in planters near the area where the Emma Bridge was spruced up as a pedestrian corridor last year.

scondon@aspentimes.com