This weekend, Goleta Valley Beautiful will host their 39th annual awards ceremony recognizing organizations that have excellence in community landscaping.

The event will take place Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at Dos Pueblos Ranch Casa Grande. Goleta Valley Beautiful is a nonprofit organization that focuses on planting, growing and taking care of Goleta’s trees. The ceremony will include a silent auction, in addition to a live performance and short talk by Dr. Robert Muller, co-author of The Trees of Santa Barbara. Additionally, since the event will be Cinco de Mayo-themed, taco carts and a salsa bar will also be available for guests to enjoy.

According to Goleta Valley Beautiful Executive Director Ken Knight, the purpose of the event is to award those that have impacted the community through preserving and beautifying public areas in the Goleta Valley.

“It is a recognition to those who have done well and a celebration that such excellence exists in the community. Our awards are for various categories to emphasize maintenance and excellence in design,” Knight said. “We always have our awards on the first Sunday in May. This year it happens on May 5, so we decided to put a Cinco de Mayo theme to it.”

The Brengrass Band, a musical group from the UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, is scheduled to perform live from 3 to 4 p.m.

Jon Montgomery, a second-year Bren School graduate student and member of the band, said Brengrass has played at the Goleta Valley Beautiful event before and that he is excited to showcase their new horn section.

“This year we have a large group that even includes a horn section,” Montgomery said. “Brengrass is always excited to participate in events that benefit the local community.”

Aside from advocating environmentalism within the community, Knight said Goleta Valley Beautiful has planted over 4,000 trees in local schools, parks, restoration sites and on campus. He said the organization also focuses on educating the public about the importance of trees.

“Goleta Valley Beautiful has a mission for urban forestry and environmental forest. We grow, plant and take care of trees in public areas and we also educate the public about the benefits of the tree and the responsibility of taking care of trees,” Knight said.

According to the CEO of Mosher Foundation, Edward Birch, the Mosher Foundation serves to fund nonprofit organizations, and as such, has helped fund Goleta Valley Beautiful.

“The Mosher Foundation is a foundation that is intended to give away money to the nonprofit sector. Its purpose is to fund the nonprofit organizations in the health care, performing arts and education sectors,” Birch said. “We like to affirm those nonprofit organizations that contribute to the community.”

Additionally, Birch also said the Mosher Foundation is supporting the event because of the common interests Goleta Valley Beautiful shares with the foundation. By providing monetary support, the organization can better contribute to the community by beautifying all aspects of the Goleta Valley.

“Our foundation is providing support for the event because we knew the Mosher family had a longstanding interest in beautifying Goleta. This particular one [organization] reflects a particular interest of Mr. and Mrs. Mosher,” Birch said. “The organization recognizes both the private residence and corporate/government entities which beautify the Goleta Valley.”