I've driven through Nebraska at least 14 times now. If you are unaware, the welcome sign boasts "Home of Arbor Day." This has always struck me as a little odd due to the apparent lack of trees in this plains state. Since Arbor day is imminent and here at Fontana we are doing a promotion, I thought there would be no better time to educate myself on the origin of Arbor day.
So, this is what I dug up...
Arbor Day was the vision of journalist/politician Julius Sterling Morton, who thought Nebraska's landscape and could benefit from the wide scale planting of trees. He was able to put his vision into action when he joined the Nebraska board of agriculture. The idea was well received, and thus April 10, 1872 became the 1st ever Arbor day. It was a huge success with over 1 million trees being planted in Nebraska. A second one took place six years later in 1884, and in 1885 Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska, the date was set as April 22nd to coincide with Morton's birthday. Since planting trees is and AWESOME idea, Arbor day was soon embraced by other states. Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Ohio were among the first on board, but eventually all 50 states had their own Arbor day...the dates varied a bit based on climate but the premise was the same.
Finally in 1970 Nixon formally declared Arbor day a federal holiday - setting the date at the third Friday in April.
So that's the quick rundown...and since we think it's great, this year we'll be teaming up with Chaco and the National Arbor Day Foundation for a BUY ONE GET ONE TREE promotion.
For every pair of Chacos purchased at either of our stores or at fontanasports.com April 24th, 25th, and 26th we will plant a tree in one of our national forests! So get new kicks and do some good for the earth!
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