CENTERTON (KFSM) - With all the winds and storms that blew across Northwest Arkansas Wednesday, one tradition in Centerton was destroyed.
Wednesday afternoon a 30-year-old tree was blown over by winds over 60 miles an hour, taking with it the memories of many locals.
"It was a big tree and and all of my friends and I used to climb on it," Nine-year-old Katie Snyder said, "And we will miss it, because we really liked to climb on it."
Many locals said the tree was a place for people of all ages to gather and have fun.
"It was kind of a center point of the park," Resident Bryan Cooper said, "And now it's just an empty spot."
Cooper said the tree in the city park was the first tree his three-year-old daughter Madison ever climbed.
"I first started putting her up there and pretend to climb and everything," Cooper said, " And it's sad to see it gone, because we had a lot of good memories there."
He said at local events and festivals the tree was always a place for tired parents to catch some shade and watch over their kids playing at the park.
"It just wasn't my kids …it was all the kids here who were using that tree," Cooper said, "It was in constant use."
Ann Snyder said her and her daughter Katie live across from the park and will miss the old tree.
"It was a beautiful, big old tree," Snyder said, "We have our Girl Scout meetings here at City Hall, and so we would get out early sometimes and the girl would make a beeline to that tree, because all the girls just wanted to climb it."
Snyder and Cooper both agreed that city officials should replant on the dirt patch where the climbing tree once stood.
"There were a lot of activities that are held at the city park that that tree provided spectacular shade for," Snyder said, "So iIm hoping they plant something just as big."
Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards said Thursday that the city does plan on replanting.