More than 500 volunteers stepped up to serve the Bellevue community on Saturday, as the city celebrated it’s 22nd year of being being recognized as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Of those 500 volunteers 125 of them arrived at Lewis Creek Park, where they worked on a variety of environmental restoration projects starting at 9 a.m. Projects included planting trees – and 700 pots of Slough Sedge – throughout the park.

In addition to serving as a work party, the Arbor Day festivities at Lewis Creek Park included a tree-planting ceremony and a family festival; the ceremony featured speakers Mayor Conrad Lee and Aaron Everett, Washington State Forester of the state Department of Natural Resources, as well as the planting of a Quaking Aspen tree by Alexandra Dysard and Master Naturalist Chuck Nau.

DySard, who has worked with the Bellevue Parks for 4 years and served as the Natural Resources Volunteer Coordinator for this event, said her favorite part of the Arbor Day celebration was working with the volunteers.

Following the completion of their projects, volunteers of all ages enjoyed a warm meal donated by the Whole Foods in Bellevue. Susan Livingston, who volunteered with the Whole Foods team said the company decided to be volunteer this weekend because the company cares about giving back to the community they serve.

Livingston was joined by her daughter Claire, 11, as well as fellow Whole Foods employees Christine Rendak and Bruce Wettin – who served soup and bananas to the muddy work party participants.

Other volunteers included employees from Bellevue’s Parks and Community Service department and representatives from the Pacific Science Center’s Watershed Internship program; a number of boys and girls scout troops based on the Eastside also participated.

Bellevue resident Irene Endow brought her daughter, Julia, to Lewis Creek Park along with the rest of her Girl Scout troop. Endow said the mothers of Troop 43999 brought the girls to Lewis Park this weekend as their field trip for the month of April. She said the Arbor Day festivities at Lewis Park seemed like a good way for the girls to get involved and help out the community.

In addition to being honored as a Tree City for the 22nd consecutive year, the Arbor Day Foundation also recognized Bellevue as a city of growth on Saturday. This honor is bestowed on cities that continue to increase the number of trees they introduce to the environment each year; Bellevue has done just that for the past 20 years.

Collectively, volunteers planted 2000 new trees at 17 different locations across Bellevue in honor of Arbor Day.

Alexandra DySard and Chuck Nau plant the Quaking Aspen tree at Lewis Creek Park in honor of Arbor Day.