“The customers of Frosty Treats felt like the tree is very iconic, so the people will be happy to have it back,” Kelly Gravel of Frosty Treats said.

This past winter, city officials decided to take the maple tree down due to its weakness, as it is posed a safety hazard for the people frequenting the bench only a few feet from the tree.

“This is one of the beloved Frosty Treats trees and unfortunately, we had to take it down. And nobody wanted to see it come down, so we thought we would do a little special ceremony when we planted the new one,” said Eric Stemen, director of facilities and maintenance for the city of Marquette.

Though the tree is a maple, it is a different type than the previous tree, a sugar maple. The new tree is an Autumn Blaze type of maple, which is known for its eye-catching autumn colors.

From left, Dan Carter, arborist for the city of Marquette; Tammy Dupras, partial owner of Third Base Bar; and newly appointed Marquette City Manager Karen Kovacs celebrate another Arbor Day on Third Street in Marquette by planting a new maple tree on the sidewalk in front of Frosty Treats in Marquette. (Katie Segula)

“This will look almost as red like a burning bush. This is a lab tree, created as a cross between different maple. And when this tree leafs out, it is going to be as red as that truck over there,” Marquette City Arborist Dan Carter said as he looked at a candy-apple red truck across the street.

Carter has been the city arborist since 2012. He also spent this Arbor Day celebrating Tree City USA’s 40th year of urban tree canopy support and effort, as city of Marquette has been part of the nationwide program for 40 years, according to its website.

Tree City USA is a program stemming from the Arbor Day Foundation to support and celebrate urban tree canopies across the country.

The holiday of Arbor Day has a long history, according to organizers.

“On Jan. 4, 1872, (J. Sterling) Morton first proposed a tree planting holiday to be called ‘Arbor Day’ at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture,” according to arborday.org. “The celebration date was set for April 10, 1872. Prizes were offered to counties and individuals for the largest number of properly planted trees on that day. It was estimated that more than 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.”

For more information on Arbor Day, visit arborday.org. To learn more about Tree City USA, visit www.arborday.org/programs/treecityusa/.

Katie Segula can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is