Each year as the snow melts, our messy ways are revealed. Garbage can and grill lids blown away by winter storms, dog doo, cigarette butts, and refuse – both intentionally and unintentionally – are exposed and reclassified as litter, then the outrage begins. “Why is there so much garbage around?” “I wish people would pick up after themselves.” “Someone should do something about it!”
Duluth has a lot of conscientious citizens who routinely take a garbage bag along with them on their daily walks and visits to their favorite parks, which is a fantastic habit. But this unofficial volunteer citizen’s brigade can’t make a dent in a winter’s worth of waste. And this year, with a mild winter and more folks getting outside as a break from Zoom meetings and their COVID pods coupled with an early snowmelt means there is more trash, more eyes noticing, and more people who want to help.
Coincidentally, Earth Week is coming up soon and that is the perfect time to step up and make a difference in our community.
As part of Ecolibrium3’s Eco3 Earth Week celebration (it’s kind of our national holiday around here), our Main Street Lincoln Park program is hosting a Lincoln Park Spring Clean Up on Saturday, April 24 from 10 am – 2 pm. Individuals, families, civic groups, and friend pods are all welcome to sign up, don some gloves, nab a grabber, and help put some shine back on the Craft District. We have a goal to reach 150 cleaner-uppers who are willing to show up and do their best for our neighborhood. Volunteers will be given a two-block radius to de-litter and Main Street staff will take care of large and/or hazardous items, making this a perfect family activity. Bonus: volunteers can go home with clean up kit for areas around their house provided by Keep Duluth Clean (while supplies last) and a goodie bag from Main Street Lincoln Park, including a token for a pint at Ursa Minor Brewing to wet your whistle after the Clean Up. The Mobile Market will also be on hand beginning at noon, with Stone Soup kits available (pre-order needed, so hop on that ASAP!). FYI, Stone Soup kits are free to SNAP/EBT users.
To help us maintain physical distancing for participants at the registration table and make sure we have enough pick-up equipment, we are asking volunteers to sign up at bit.ly/lnpkcleanup.
Many thanks to our partners for making this day possible: Ursa Minor Brewing, Waste Management, WLSSD, Dovetail Café, The Duluth Grill Family of Restaurants, Free Air Life Co., and the City of Duluth.