The trees planted for today's Arbor Day celebration in Myrtle Beach aren't just for looks and the environment.
The 15 freshly planted oaks on the south end of Ocean Boulevard honor retired hotelier Woody Crosby, a longtime business leader and former city tree protection committee member who needs a liver transplant.
The trees are the start of what will become known as "Woody's Forest," a string of trees near the Crown Reef Resort, where Crosby worked as president and CEO of Jordan Properties until he retired during the summer.
About a dozen businesses and people paid $100 each for trees to get the project started, saying Crosby is an innovator - finding creative ways to raise money to promote Grand Strand tourism - and a longtime friend to tourism and the city.
"Every effort he made was in the best interest for the community," said Danny Isaac, an owner of A&I Fire Restoration, which bought one of the trees.
Crosby retired earlier than planned because of his fight with hepatitis C, a viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver and has him on a waiting list for a second liver transplant.
Crosby had a transplant in 1999 and had been doing fine for a decade, but the virus eventually attacked the new liver. He's undergone treatments, but needs the transplant.
Officials plan to make information about transplants available during today's ceremony.
"We're pleased to help plant Woody's Forest, a fitting tribute to a longtime Myrtle Beach contributor who has done much to plant good will and create local jobs for many years," Brad Dean, president and chief executive of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said in an e-mail.
A Gastonia, N.C., native, Crosby came to Myrtle Beach in 1975 to help solve some summer management problems for a real estate company he worked for, and eventually landed a job at Jordan Properties, where he rose through the ranks.
He served on boards such as the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association and Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, and helped form the Myrtle Beach Lodging Cooperative in 2006, a group of properties that raised money to advertise the Grand Strand and secured more marketing money from the state. He was the chamber's Citizen of the Year in 2009 and served on the city's tree protection ordinance committee in the mid-1990s.
"Woody has been a tremendous asset to the hotel industry, the tourism industry and our city," Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said.
"It is well deserved."
The new oaks, planted between Kings Highway and the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum a couple of weeks ago so they could settle in by today's ceremony, extend a line of 2,500 trees along Farrow Parkway through The Market Common.
Myrtle Beach's event comes on the heels of other Arbor Day events Friday in North Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Charleston and other cities.
In 1934, the General Assembly set Arbor Day as the first Friday in December. Myrtle Beach celebrates the following Monday so state Forestry Commission representatives, who must attend the state event on Friday, can attend Myrtle Beach's ceremony, said Diane Moskow-McKenzie of the city's Planning Department.
Crosby could not be reached for comment last week.
"This is the way they liked to say 'thank you,' [to Crosby]" Moskow-McKenzie said. "He's very humbled. He's just very touched."
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