Keeping it cool

On Saturday, the City of Edinburg will host Cool City Celebration, an annual event that spreads awareness of  Earth Day, Arbor Day, Walk-N-Rolla, Dia De Los Niños & Dia De Los Libros and Passport Day.

Walk-N-Rolla is an annual diabetes fundraiser, Dia De Los Niños & Dia De Los Libros (Children’s Day and Book Day) is an event where the city encourages children to read and passes out books, and Passport Day, in which the city offers expedited processing for passports.

The Edinburg City Council issued a proclamation during its April 2 meeting that recognized Cool City Celebration’s efforts to promote the environment, health, wellness, community development and art.

Robert Valenzuela, a stormwater specialist for the city, is heading this year’s event, which is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the City Hall’s courtyard. Several vendors will participate.

Valenzuela said the purpose of the event is to help out the community.

“Just so we can give back to the community and let them know why we are doing these events. Each department is going to be handing out information as to why they [are there],” he said.

City officials are also working in conjunction with the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization and the UTRGV Food Pantry to host a 5K walk-run, Valenzuela said. Each runner participating will donate five cans of nonperishable food to the food pantry.

Participants may register for the 5K before the race.

Edward Kuprel, the city forester, explained Arbor Day’s importance.

“It’s basically the celebration of trees, and we have been celebrating the last Friday of April for a number of years, since [Julius] Sterling Morton thought it up back in 1872,” Kuprel said.

He said that trees have many benefits for people, such as providing oxygen, helping the environment, as well as providing coolness in the summer and heat in the winter.

Kuprel said that Cool City Celebration is a combination of Earth Day and Arbor Day to celebrate the environment.

“I’ll be giving away tree seedlings, like usual, I’ll have my own table,” he said. “This time, it will be in front of City Hall, and we’ll do a planting and we’ll dedicate it to Arbor Day 2018.”

The planting will be around 9 to 9:30 a.m.

 Valenzuela encourages students to attend the Cool City Celebration.

“Have them come out and get some information,” he said. “The city departments are going to be there. There [are] going to be different vendors that will come out. If they have any questions, they can ask us.”