180-year-old oak growing in the Klepacz Park is one of the most original trees in Poland and a showcase of the city. Throughout February, the Lodz oak will compete with 15 trees from Europe for the title of European Tree of the Year 2023. Voting begins on February 1 on the competition website. In 2022, Fabrykant won the Polish edition of the Tree of the Year competition, organized by Klub Gaja, winning 5,559 votes from Internet users.
The meeting at TUL was attended by: Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwik, Rector of TUL, Adam Pustelnik, vice-president of Lodz, as well as Jacek Bożek , president of Klub Gaja and Przemysław Bartos, who submitted the Fabrykan to the competition.
Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwik thanked for submitting the application and invited everyone visit the campus in the spring, when fields of blue squills bloom in the park. Vice
president Adam Pustelnik encouraged everyone to vote, saying that for this purpose it is necessary to build a coalition and start contacts, because Fabrykant's victory in the competition would be one of the greatest promotional successes of Lodz.
Rob McBride is a tree lover, BBC reporter and European Tree of the Year Ambassador. A guest from Great Britain came to Lodz to see an extraordinary tree that won in 2022 in the Tree of the Year in Poland competition organized by Klub Gaja. He was delighted with the shape of Fabrykant's boughs and his pictures among the blue carpet of flowers.
Tree Hunter has dedicated his life to protecting and promoting trees. He is a photographer, traveler, social activist and a lover of old, historic trees. In his social media, he reports meetings with unusual trees. Since 2015, as an ambassador of the European Tree of the Year Competition, he has been visiting trees participating in the annual plebiscite organized by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA) based in Brussels.
Time to mobilize. Voting for the European Tree of the Year is not only a plebiscite but also a great opportunity to promote the city of Lodz and the nature of our country more widely. Let's use voting for the common good and remember that you can have creative fun with it- said Jacek Bożek, founder and head of Klub Gaja. And he added that if we wanted to win, we need to collect about 200,000. votes, and it's not easy.
I am glad that two different cities with a similar history and similar natural and cultural heritage were able to cooperate for the sake of nature, for this unique oak tree - said the promoter of Fabrykant, Przemysław Bartos from Sosnowiec, during the meeting.
The Fabrykant oak, growing in the Klepacz Park is one of the most interesting trees in Poland. One of its branches has a S-shaped shape and a length of over 20 meters, which makes an amazing impression on passers-by. In spring every year it attracts crowds of people who want to see its majesty sunk in the sea of blue snowflowers and scallions. At the end of the meeting, Fabrykant received a lot of nice wishes, which were hung on the branches of the tree.
