Auburn Oaks at Toomer’s Corner Replaced
Saturday is the second time Auburn officials have replaced the trees at Toomer’s Corner that are traditionally used for rolling after post-game victories.
Crews are replacing one of the trees on Magnolia Avenue after it was lit on fire. University officials also decided to replace the tree on College Street too after finding another tree that was the perfect match.
“It’s a bit disheartening. The new trees haven’t been in place that long and the tree that was lit on fire was actually in very good condition,” says Professor Gary Keever.
Officials say the day has been emotional and challenging.
“The emotional side-we were super excited a couple of years ago to plant the new trees and following the fire and now re-planting again, you know that’s a challenge and physically these are not small trees,” says Ben Burmester of Campus Planning.
While there were plenty of locals on-site watching the process, there were also people like Teresa Dupree that traveled from Birmingham just to see the trees replaced. In 2015 she also watched the replacements come in after the original oaks were poisoned.
“I’ve always been a life-long auburn fan and the trees represent our spirit, especially with all of our victories and I look at it as our family’s trees. I consider the Auburn people to be Auburn family,” says Dupree.
“Any auburn fan knows that the Toomer’s Oaks are just apart of Auburn and it’s apart of history,” says Robin Merrell.
Now, fans are looking forward to making new memories at Toomer’s Corner.
“I feel good about these two trees being planted. I feel good about their future and I hope that we can make this corner as beautiful as it can be,” says Burmester.
