MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The City of Myrtle Beach gave away hundreds of free trees on Saturday to celebrate Arbor Day.
This year marks Myrtle Beach’s 20th anniversary of being named a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. In honor of this, CSX Railroad awarded the city with a $5,000 grant, which made the tree giveaway possible. City officials set up shop at the Farmer’s Market Holiday Market, on the corner of Oak Street and Mr. Joe White Avenue and gave away about 400 saplings, including maple, redbud, oak and black gum trees. City Planner Diane Moskow-McKenzie says the tree giveaway was also meant to help people restore what Hurricane Matthew destroyed. “People are very appreciative of this. They’ve talked about how they lost their trees during the storm and they’ve been thinking about replacing the trees and this is just a great opportunity for them,” she says.
This was the city’s first ever tree giveaway, but city officials say they will apply for more funding so that they can make this an annual event.
