LONGVIEW, Texas — Next Saturday, the Longview Arboretum and Nature Center will celebrate its first birthday. You can help celebrate and get free admission, both Saturday and Sunday.
Executive Director Steven Chamblee has put his heart and soul into this place all for the East Texas community.
"This is not my garden," said Chamblee. "It's not the board's garden, it's the people's garden." "So we want people of all ages to come out here and enjoy themselves."
Work began on the arboretum in 2017, and even though it’s been open almost a year, it’s still not finished.
"Some of our development is still going on," "So we have light poles over here that have yet to go in, we have some new pergolas and such so and bench pads just got poured today."
At the grand opening, they were finishing up phase one of the arboretum. Now they're getting close to finishing up phase two. Chamblee says an arboretum never really is finished because new things are always being added.
"It's not like a painting or anything like that you sign and you're done," said Chamblee. "This is always a work in progress."
The weekend celebration is open to everyone starting at 10:00 am and there will be various activities as well as live music.