Walking Trees: Children’s book comes to life in Halifax with tree parade

Well-known children's author Marie-Louise Gay is in Halifax this week for the Afterwords Literary Festival and her latest book “Walking Trees” became a reality on Saturday thanks to young readers in the city.

Seven families each pulled a wagon with a tree in it from Halifax Central Library down Spring Garden Road and then planted them at the Halifax Public Gardens.

“We’re going to try to put it into motion here in Halifax the way the book has been written about a girl in the city who gets a tree for her birthday, and she puts it in a wagon and she walks the tree around the neighourhood and provides shade on a very sunny, hot day in the city where she lives,” said organizer Peter Duinker ahead of the event.

Gay said the event was “like seeing a dream come true.”

“To come here all the way to Halifax and have my trees that come from my book, ‘Walking Trees,’ and it’s a walking tree parade and it’s fantastic,” she said.

A team from the Public Gardens helped the families plant the trees once they arrived.

“We like squished the pot so we could easily take out the plant, then we put it in the hole that we dug and then we filled it up with the dirt that we dug out of the hole,” said Isaac Turner, a young participant.

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Volunteer Lauren Tetteh-Wayoe said the tree parade helps kids learn about the importance of the environment.

“It’s just amazing to bring the community together and something so important,” she said.

“Now every time they walk through the Pubic Gardens they’ll be able to just see the tree they planted and I think that’s really beautiful and they’ll kind of watch it grow.”

Duinker said the project also links the arts with the concept of sustainability.

“It’s a beautiful example of the arts coming alive for sustainability reasons,” he said.

“This is so lovely, those little wagons and the trees, the families that have decided to participate,” Gay added. “So it means that a book can come to life.”

The sixth annual Afterwords Literary Festival wraps up on Sunday.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Carl Pomeroy.

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