Arbor Week in Alabama is celebrated during the last week in February.

As part of the celebration, the Alabama Forestry Commission partners with the Tree City USA program and the Chilton Natural Resources Council to hold an annual tree giveaway to coincide with Arbor Week.

This year’s event will be held on Feb. 26 beginning at 9 a.m. in the large parking lot behind Clanton City Hall. If it rains, the event will be moved to underneath the parking deck.

“We usually try to do it the Tuesday of Arbor Week,” Chilton County Forestry Management Specialist Brian Smith said. “It’s just a day for people to come by and get a tree to plant.”

The event is free to the public and will end once the last tree is given away. In previous years, typically 1,000 to 1,500 seedlings have been handed out on the day.

“We’ll have a bunch of different types of trees,” Smith said.

Some of the seedlings on hand to be given away will include buttonbush, bald cypress, dogwood, green ash, nuttall oak, overcup oak and sawtooth oak.

The National Arbor Day is April 26, but the dates differ depending on the region of the country.

Arbor Day is widely considered to be the best time to plant trees and was first observed in Nebraska in 1872.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation website, Alabama is one of five states that celebrate Arbor Day for an entire week. The others are Oregon, California, Oklahoma and Maine.