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Mayor, volunteers plant 400 trees in Grand Rapids for Arbor Day

Posted at 1:44 AM, Apr 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-29 03:47:00-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — More than 500 volunteers, alongside the Mayor of Grand Rapids, got their hands dirty for Arbor Day Friday planting nearly 400 trees across the city.

The event was part of Mayor Rosalynn Bliss' greening initiative to cover 40-percent of the city with trees.

This year, the group focused on Martin Luther King Park on the city's southeast side, along with the surrounding neighborhood.

"We decided this neighborhood because there were a lot of opportunities for trees," Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said. "So you will see that people are planting trees actually in the right away in several of the streets inside the park."

The mayor says she plans to do the same thing next year, in a different neighborhood.

A local program, called Plant for the Future also presented the city with a $15,000 check to help plant more trees.