Retiring Bluffton Mayor Fred Rodabaugh is being honored this Arbor Day by the Bluffton Tree Commission.

The Bluffton Tree Commission will hold an Arbor Day tree planting at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 30, in the rear of the town hall property.

The commission will plant a flowering cherry tree, selected for the occasion by the mayor. The program is open to the public.

Recognizing an individual with a special tree is one of the ways the Bluffton Tree Commission has commemorated Arbor Day in recent years.

On Monday the mayor read a proclamation naming Saturday as Arbor Day in the village. Thanks to the efforts of the Tree Commission hundreds of trees have been planted in the past 15 years in the community.

One obvious signature of the commission's work is the many flowering pears and crab apple trees now in bloom in village tree lawns.