Robert Connors
Lake Wales' official gardener, Kevin Polk, leads a team of parks staff who continually beautify the city with hundreds of new trees and thousands of shrubs.
The City of Lake Wales has received the Tree City USA designation, joining a list of more than 160 Florida communities that have received this designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation.
“This is a prestigious honor for our city,” said city gardener Kevin Polk. Polk now leads a team of parks workers who plant and maintain hundreds of trees and thousands of shrubs throughout the city.
Lake Wales met all of the criteria to qualify for the award by operating a tree advisory board, facilitating a tree care ordinance, maintaining a forestry program with an annual budget, and observing Arbor Day annually.
“Our employee-supported tree management program and partnerships within the community earned us this recognition,” said City Manager James Slaton. “It complements the work we are doing in the historic core to become ‘A City in a Garden’.”
Notable landscape architecture in Lake Wales dates back to the survey of the proposed town site for Lake Wales in the early 20th century, with plans to become a “garden city”. This design preserved the nearly two miles of lakefront parks and green spaces in the heart of the city.
Courtesy of the City of Lake Wales
Lake Wales City Manager James Slaton celebrated receiving the Tree City USA award. He was a steadfast supporter of the city's beautification efforts outlined in the Lake Wales Connected plans.
The plan was completed in the 1920s by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. after Edward Bok encouraged him to expand his gardens at Bok's Tower throughout the city.
The annual Olmsted Day Festival, held at Lake Wailes Park, marks Arbor Day each year and serves as an educational and entertainment event that engages citizens to learn more about the value of urban trees.
The Olmsted Day event, scheduled for March 29, has been held every year since the city's nonprofit partner, Lake Wales Heritage, initiated an initiative to plant street trees following the guidelines of Olmsted's original but unfinished city designs.
Native trees, urban tree canopies and streetscapes are an important part of the city's award-winning downtown revitalization plan, Lake Wales Connected, with hundreds of trees currently being planted along miles of city streets. They are planted by the City of Lake Wales, Lake Wales Heritage and private individuals.
Robert Connors
The placement of numerous new trees downtown has transformed once barren stretches of street into extensions of the city's growing network of parks and trails.
The Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA program is run in collaboration with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service.