The Du Quoin State Fair honored Earth Day and kicked off it's 100th year anniversary with a project to beautify the fairground by planting 100 trees.
Gardeners from the University of Illinois Extension were on hand to help with the planting, along with Du Quoin high school students and 4-H members. First Lady MK Pritzer was on hand to celebrate with the group.
She said she was honored to be included.
"Well I always love to come visit Du Quoin and the state fairgrounds, I think this is such a jewel of Illinois and I really enjoy spending time here and learning about the community and history of the fair. And I would just like to give a shoutout to the Hays family who started this fair 100 years ago and gave this beautiful gift to our community," she said.
Officials said the trees chosen to beautify the fairgrounds were selected because they are especially suited to growing in southern Illinois.
