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Students from the College at Brockport joined other members of the community on April 26 to plant new trees all along the sidewalk on Holley Street as part of the village’s annual Spring Spruce-Up initiative. The community members present included everyone from local politicians to elementary school kids.

“It’s great to see so many different members of the community,” said JW Cook, who is running for a seat in the Monroe County legislature.

According to Cook, Brockport’s mayor also attended the planting event.

The project helped foster unity in the village, particularly regarding a topic that has caused some controversy lately.

“There’s been a lot of backlash about trees being removed in Brockport, so I think it’s good to get the community out planting more trees,” said Melissa Rivelis, a member of the village Tree Board.

Rivelis said that the Tree Board chose to plant flowering crab-apple trees because they would look good, but not grow tall enough to interfere with power lines.

Community members planted 15 trees, covering the two blocks from the intersection of Holley Street and Main Street to Monika Andrews Childrens’ Park at the intersection of Holley Street and Utica Street.

Other Spring Spruce-Up projects included cleaning up litter from around the Erie Canal, landscaping projects at St. Ann’s Care Center in Webster and Lakeview Cemetery in Brockport, and decorating flower pots with preschoolers at the Brockport Child Development Center.