Have you hugged your tree today?

ARBOR DAY TREE PLANTING

JOLIET -- Trees young and old are being appreciated today in Joliet.

The public is invited to an Arbor Day tree planting at 2:30 p.m. today at Charles Reed Elementary School.

Meanwhile, Jack and Mary McClintock can enjoy Arbor Day knowing that the Bur Oak in their backyard won the city's Big Tree Contest.

The tree at the McClintock's home, 624 Ida St., was measured by a city arborist at 14-feet, 8-inches around (or 56 inches in diameter) and about 50-feet high with a crown that spreads about 100 feet.

"You can be under it when it rains and not get wet," said Jack McClintock. And, that's convenient since McClintock built a deck around the tree.

The Big Tree Contest was open only to oak trees this year, the second of the contest. Whether the McClintock's oak is the biggest is uncertain, but it is the biggest entered in the contest.

The McClintocks live near West Park, and their tree probably was part of the oak grove that was there before homes were built, said Rita Renwick, chairwoman of the Joliet Tree Advisory Board. Others can be found in West Park itself, she said.

The contest is held to enhance appreciation of older trees in the city.

To celebrate new trees, two Morton Accolades, a hybrid elm cultivated at the Morton Arboretum, will be planted at Charles Reed School, 2110 Clublands Parkway, for the Arbor Day festivities there today.

Renwick said the public is invited to the event. Among those there will be Morty the Oak, the Morton Arboretum mascot. Charles Reed second-graders will be participating in the event.

The city has placed more importance on trees in recent years, said Tom Brady, one of two arborists employed by the city of Joliet.

One project in the works now is a Joliet arboretum. The city has begun planting a variety of trees in the Broadway Greenway, north of the ice cream stand on Broadway, Brady said. Eventually, metal plates describing each tree will be added, and the site will offer a place for people to stroll and learn more about trees, Brady said.

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