For the birds: Audubon school alumni revive old tradition of decorating Christmas tree at Nay Aug Park in Scranton with food for feathered flyers

Dec. 18—SCRANTON — A tree trimming for the birds Saturday at Nay Aug Park revived an age-old, popular tradition of pupils of the former John J. Audubon School in the Hill Section.

Five alumni of the beloved school, which opened in 1911, closed in 2012 and was demolished in 2015, and a dozen of their family members and friends gathered at the park to once again decorate an evergreen for Christmas with food for birds.

The tree-trimming tradition dates to 1921, said event organizer Linda Lyons, 69, of the Hill Section, who attended Audubon until 1967 and had four generations of her family attend the school, including her mother, uncle, brother, children and grandchildren.

Back in the day, on the last day of school before the Christmas break, pupils walked from the school to the park a block away and decorated an evergreen behind the Everhart Museum. They sang carols and strung popcorn, Cheerios, raisins and other food items for birds to eat. The annual activity both celebrated the holiday and honored the school's 19th century ornithologist/artist namesake, John J. Audubon.

Lyons recalled how each year during the last week of school before the Christmas break, Audubon students used to string together popcorn, Cheerios, grapes and berries and make small cups of bird-seed suet. They brought their "decorations" to school and put them in a box in a cloak room. Then, on the last day of school before the break, the entire school community walked up to the park and encircled a tree behind the Everhart Museum, with younger pupils up front and older children in back. The children sang Christmas carols and took turns by grades adorning the tree.

"There was over 400 people, because we had the whole school and the teachers" participating, Lyons said.

Bobby Yanover, 69, of the Hill Section, an Audubon alumnus of the class of 1967, also recalled the annual celebrations fondly.

"Everybody would bring in their stuff and they'd scoot the whole Audubon school up there" to decorate a tree and sing Christmas carols, Yanover said.

Lyons actually first revived the tree-trimming last January, when a few people attended. For this season, she resumed it on the third Saturday of December. She plans to keep it going annually each December and hopes it continues to grow.

"I'm really happy to be able to bring it back," Lyons said.

The Scranton Municipal Recreation Authority, which oversees the park, recently planted a 7-foot-tall Norway spruce for Audubon alumni to decorate. This tree is in an open lawn area near the early 1900s stone-block building housing the Blackwatch Cafe coffee shop.

Former Mayor Jim Connors and his wife, Susan Blum Connors, strung together their edible decorations inside the Blackwatch Cafe before the tree-trimming celebration. Neither attended Audubon, but Susan said she was participating on behalf of many friends who were Audubon alumni.

The other three Audubon alumni who attended included Carrie Knight of Scranton, class of 1982, who is Linda Lyons' daughter; Mike Lucks of Columbia, Maryland, class of 1961; and Bob Lyons of Scranton, class of 1961, who is Linda's brother.

The tree-trimming also coincided with the 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count undertaken Saturday by members of the Northeast Pennsylvania Audubon Society, said David Trently, the society's programs and field-trip coordinator.

While many birds migrate south for winter, others remain and likely will descend on the bird-feeder tree, Trently said.

"It helps them out, especially if there's a lot of snow on the ground, it's harder for them to find seeds, so they can get the seeds from the feeders" on the tree, Trently said. "And the people enjoy it."

The tree should attract black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, tufted titmice, northern cardinals, mourning doves and maybe European starlings, he said. It might also attract birds of prey, such as hawks, looking for a meaty meal.

But the first hungry wildlife visitor to check out the tree Saturday bore fur, not feathers, and scampered up on all fours — a squirrel.

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185;

@jlockwoodTT on Twitter.