Daffodil Day: picture-perfect

Are you having trouble seeing the forest for the trees? Don't sweat it -- sometimes the trees are worth looking at. From this Friday until April 3, a special photography gallery will be on display at the Bell Buckle Town Hall called "The Notable Tree Exhibit."

Featuring 37 photographs of impressive species of trees captured by professional and amateur photographers from across the state, the exhibit is part of this year's Daffodil Days celebration, which also takes place this weekend. The photos include landmark and historic trees, as well as "champion" trees, and the exhibit, as with all the Daffodil Days events, is free.

"We're excited about having the notable trees," said Florence Hull, a member of the Bell Buckle Tree Board. "We combined Daffodil Day with Arbor Day. It's not the official Arbor Day in Tennessee, (the first Friday in March) but this is when we celebrate it."

Free tree seedlings from the Tennessee Urban Forestry Division will be available all day on the square.

Many activities

There will be plenty of other activities for visitors and residents alike all day, most of them centered around, of course, daffodils.

"Nothing says springtime better than daffodils, and nobody has daffodils like Bell Buckle," said Bell Buckle Alderwoman Jenny Hunt, who also serves on the tree board.

More than 100 years ago, Webb School's first headmaster, Sawney Webb, made sure that Bell Buckle would come alive with the first warm days of spring by planting hundreds of daffodils around the campus and town. Those hundreds have now turned into thousands and some of them will be entered into the annual Daffodil Show. Some of the entries, however, will be traveling to vie for a ribbon.

"We have people coming from all over," said Hull. "Some come from Tullahoma every time, or Winchester. They just want to come and enter their daffodils. There are all kinds of categories -- youth, senior citizens, every kind of daffodil you can name."

State Forester Bruce Webster will be on hand to present Bell Buckle with its Tree City USA designation, the ninth the town has received. He will also be presenting a Tree Line certificate to Duck River Agency.

Early start

Some Daffodil Day events start early. Phillips General Store's annual Spring Open House will arrive on Friday, the first day of spring, with the grand unveiling of Phillips' store front windows at 5 p.m. The Spring Open House is a Bell Buckle tradition at Phillips with local food fare offered Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Bluebird Antiques and Ice Cream Parlor, featuring the flavors of Captain Rodney's jellies, glazes, and dressings. The Open House festivities continue throughout the Daffodil Day weekend on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The 1886 dry goods store will be transformed into a garden with vintage garden tools, architectural fragments, and primitives.

Nashville folk artist Jason Parker Counces' new spring collection of antique ticking and calico vegetable dolls will be on hand, as will designer Bethany Lowe's line of vintage-inspired papier-mache rabbits and dye-cut chicks.

There will be kite-flying at the Bell Buckle Park all day.

If you go

What: Daffodil Day

Where: Bell Buckle

When: Saturday, March 21

Who: Sponsored by the Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce and the Bell Buckle Tree Board

Cost: Free

For more information: www.BellBuckleChamber.com.