Preiļi Park Gains a New Adornment During the Campaign!

On 8 May, a campaign entitled “Plant Your Own Tree in Preiļi Park!” took place in Preiļi Municipality. From early morning, employees of Preiļu saimnieks Ltd. were busy in the park: young trees and shrubs were delivered, holes were prepared for planting, water was supplied for watering the trees, and arrangements were also made for purchasing trees on site. At 9:00 a.m., residents began arriving at the park—representatives of institutions, companies and associations, as well as families, people from Preiļi and residents of the surrounding parishes—to contribute to the park’s improvement and plant their own tree. The response from local people was tremendous. During the day—until 7:00 p.m.—25 Dutch linden trees, 63 shrubs and several roses were planted in Preiļi Park.

The tree-planting campaign in Preiļi Park was opened by Council Chairwoman Maruta Plivda with her family and the municipal executive director, Vladimirs Ivanovs. The municipal leaders planted the first Dutch lindens as an extension of the existing linden avenue. Residents were highly active—many wanted to see the tree they had planted right in the city park. Employees of Preiļu saimnieks Ltd. had ensured that every linden and shrub was assigned its own number, allowing each campaign participant to find their planted tree in the future. Many residents were determined to continue caring for their trees, bringing them fertiliser and watching them grow.

The idea for the campaign arose in February with Council Chairwoman Maruta Plivda, and at the end of the busy day the municipal leader said she was pleased with what had been accomplished. The park is being cleaned up and improved, and now it will be refreshed with flowering trees and shrubs. When coordinating the park improvement works with landscape architect Ilze Janele, many ideas arise, along with the desire to do ever more; however, the municipality’s resources are limited. Therefore, this time the idea arose to invite residents to help by purchasing and planting the trees themselves. Maruta Plivda acknowledges that this approach brings people together and fosters responsibility for the environment in which we all live. It is like a lesson for the younger generation—the children who also came to the park and planted trees together with their parents. When people walk past a tree they planted themselves, their attitude will also be more positive, and a sense of responsibility will develop.  

Maruta Plivda thanks every resident who took part in the campaign, purchased and planted their own tree in the park. Thanks also go to Jānis Mūrnieks, Chairman of the Board of Preiļu saimnieks Ltd.; Zenta Igolniece, Head of the Municipal Services Department; gardener Velta Kodore; and the employees of the Municipal Services Department, who had taken care of everything to ensure that the tree planting proceeded smoothly. The Council Chairwoman also thanks the municipal employees for their support for the event, saying that their support made the work a pleasure.

The campaign was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Latvia; therefore, symbolically, exactly 25 Dutch linden trees were delivered for planting. Along with plantings of ninebark, Japanese spiraea, jasmine, lilac, forsythia and roses, they found their place in Preiļi Park.

Maija Paegle,

Public Relations Specialist of the Preiļi Municipality Council