QUEENS — It will be a “historic” giveaway.
Forest Hills residents who come to pick up one of 150 free trees in the neighborhood this weekend will also get a quick history lesson at the same time.
The trees will be named after historic sites and residents from the neighborhood, including the Trylon Theater, an Art Deco style movie house in Rego Park, which currently serves as a synagogue, according to the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, which is organizing the event
Other trees will be named after Roman Avenue, a historic street in Forest Hills with Neo-Renaissance rowhouses dating back to the early 1900s; and Helen Keller, who earned a bachelor of arts degree and used her Forest Hills home as an office for her work on behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind, the organizers said.
Volunteers are currently designing tree adoption certificates, which will be attached to the trees.
During the event, which will take place in MacDonald Park on Queens Boulevard and 70th Avenue, tree lovers will be able to choose from a variety of species donated by the New York Restoration Project, including tulip trees, sweetbay magnolias, pagoda dogwoods and Allegheny serviceberry trees.
Similar events in previous years drew dozens of residents each time, organizers said.
“Trees enhance a community’s aesthetics, property values, and our environmental sustainability," said Michael Perlman, Forest Hills tree giveaway organizer, in an e-mail. "Many community residents did not realize the benefits of trees, until century-old trees succumbed in seconds during the September 2010 macroburst, which was followed by Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy.”
In recent years, MacDonald Park alone lost 60 mature trees, Perlman said.
The event will take place on Sunday, Oct. 13, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. To get more information or to reserve a tree in advance, go here.
