'Honoured to be here': Hundreds gather to mark Meewasin Valley trail donations

Hundreds of people gathered fora ceremony Saturday in Saskatoon to celebrate the planting of more than 100 donated trees andshrubs, as well as the installation ofpark benches and bricks, along the city's Meewasin Valley Trail.

Among those seated for the ceremony, held inside the Boomtown exhibit at the Western Development Museum, were Elaine Stephanson and her husband, Murray.

For them, the ceremony was especially poignant.

"We lost our son a year ago and [the] Elizabeth Fry [Society of Saskatchewan] has graciously donated a memorial brick in his honour. That's what brings us here," said Elaine Stephanson.

"We're quite honoured to be here."

The brick was installed at theInternational Peace Plaza in Rotary Park.

Thousands of trees planted

Colin Tennent, the chair of theMeewasinValley Authority's board of directors, said more than 4,000 trees and shrubs have been planted thanks to donations since 1988.

"I'm always amazed at the number of friends and colleagues that I meet here who are either dedicating a tree or had a tree dedicated to their family, or in memorial to one of their family members," he said as extra chairs were put out Saturday to make room for the more than 250 attending the ceremony.

Wayne Dyck, the chair of the authority's Plant-a-Tree Committee, said in his opening remarks that the ceremony came at a challengingtime for the MeewasinValleyAuthority.

• Disagreement over Meewasin Valley Authority program cuts led to firing of CEO Lloyd Isaak

Lloyd Isaak, the long-serving CEO of the board who was replaced by Tennent, was fired in May over disagreements about how to handle funding cuts stemming from the provincial budget.

Asked for an update Saturday, Tennent said, "The board and management team are actively involved in reconsideration of how Meewasin meets its mandate."