The sun, and the spotlight, shone down on East Providence this past Friday, April 25, as top officials from local government and state agencies took root at Providence Country Day (PCD) School to commemorate the state’s 138th annual celebration of Arbor Day.

“One-hundred-thirty-eight years ago, 1887, the world was a very different place,” said PCD Head of School, Kevin Folan. “Where we stand today is a very different place. 138 years ago, this was a working farm. Sweetland Farm in rural East Providence. I would like to think that the owners of that farm would be proud of the transformation seen on these very grounds since our school was founded in 1923.”

Folan mentioned how PCD serving as a host site for the state’s storied Arbor Day celebration made perfect sense, as the campus serves as a sort of green oasis atop 35 acres in the heart of the urban core city of East Providence, pointing to a row of trees near the athletic fields as a good example of their commitment to providing green space for the community.

“These past four years, we have worked diligently to put the ‘country’ back in Country Day,” Folan continued. “We planted over 40 trees in an effort to be responsible stewards of our environment.”

The event featured the planting of seven new trees throughout the campus, including a tulip tree that served as the ceremonial tree, along with a red maple (the official state tree) along with the clone of an American Elm tree that had been planted near the school’s outer boundary.

“How do we both prepare for the future while honoring our past?” Folan concluded. “While I do not know what Rhode Island, East Providence, or this campus will look like in another 138 years, I know that by stewarding our environment, caring for and planting trees, we will ensure that sanctity and beauty for generations to come.”

More trees for EP
Mayor Bob DaSilva, in his remarks, thanked Gregory Cornett, president of Rhode Island Energy (the sponsor for this year’s event), for agreeing to donate 148 trees to East Providence.

He later cheered after chatting with Cornett, reporting excitedly to those in the vicinity that he got Cornett to tentatively agree to boost that number to 200 trees.

DaSilva said that such a commitment to growing East Providence’s urban canopy would continue.

“We're committed to increasing equitable access to trees and nature and the that benefits our residents, their children, and their children's children by creating cooler city streets and improving air quality and promoting food security, public health, and safety. All in the name of planting trees,” he said. “But words are just that. Words are just words. It’s also about the action. And over the past several years, we here in East Providence have planted over 700 trees.”

DaSilva thanked Carol Auer, Chairwoman of the East Providence Tree Commission, and Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse (who were both in attendance) for helping East Providence earn a $750,000 tree planting grant in 2023 from the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

“This year alone we've already planted 88 trees, including 28 this week at Agnes B. Hennessy, and that's just the beginning,” DaSilva said. “I’ve challenged our team in our parks department to see if we can get 500 trees planted in the ground this year alone. So we're going to work towards that goal.”

East Providence earned another distinction during the event, as they were recognized as one of 15 municipalities to observed in 2025 by Tree City USA — a national recognition program run by the Arbor Day Foundation.

To earn that recognition requires municipalities to have an active municipal board centered on promoting trees; have an ordinance on the books to set rules for tree care and management; have a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per person; and have an Arbor Day observance event each year.

East Providence has earned that recognition 31 times, which is behind only Newport (34), and Providence (39) in terms of total overall recognitions. Other East Bay communities on the list include Barrington (6), Bristol (24), Portsmouth (19), and Warren (23).

A reminder on the importance of trees
A highlight of the event included a song-and-dance recital of “Let it Grow”, a song from the popular Universal Pictures movie, “The Lorax”, by PCD elementary students — which effectively demonstrated the stakes and future beneficiaries of planting as many trees as possible, today.

“There's a proverb from days gone by and it says, ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now,’” said Senator Reed. “So let's continue this great tradition.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse spoke of the critical importance of trees to addressing the ongoing climate crisis that threatens the overall wellbeing of the planet — that trees help keep us warm in the winter by shedding their leaves to allow more heat to absorb into the earth, and then grow leaves to provide shade and absorb more carbon dioxide during the hotter months.

“When you do that with one tree, it's a joy for an individual and the people around,” he said. “But when you do it with a million trees, you can actually change the trajectory of our climate perils, and that's really important.”