By Renee Larr
The City of Fishers celebrates Arbor Day each year by holding a flamingo-decorating contest. The holiday is celebrated April 28 promoting tree planting and care. Fishers is a member of Tree City USA, which was founded in 1976 to help communities manage and expand their trees.
“We want our Arbor Day Celebration to be a community event that brings residents together, gets people outside and celebrates trees,” Fishers Parks and Recreation Chief Naturalist Danesa Stolz stated in an email. “We have hosted a variety of events for Arbor Day over the years from simple tree plantings to a large festival. We have hosted an essay contest, tree sponsorships, even had the Lorax visit one year, but for some reason the flamingo-decorating contest has been embraced most by the community.”
Participants register in advance, pick up their flamingos and decorate them however they want. They return their creations on Arbor Day to the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The public will vote on its favorite flamingo from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“The winning flamingos in five categories: People’s Choice, Best Youth (up to age 10), Best Teen (ages 11-17), Best Adult (18+) and Best Arbor Day Theme, will win a $100 gift certificate from Wasson Nursery. We will then auction off the decorated flamingos from 7 to 8 p.m. with the assistance of our auction sponsor Burgess Auction and Appraisals,” Stolz stated.
The money raised will go to planting new trees in Fishers.
“Our first year, 2015, we created the flamingo decorating contest to coincide with the movie showing of ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ for our Movies in the Park series. The movie inspired the contest idea. We had so much fun and the contest was a hit, we decided to bring it back,” Stolz stated.
To register stop by Fishers Parks and Recreation at 11565 Brooks School Rd., or call 317-595-3150.
