Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Clean-up scheduled

Its time for the Great Arkansas Cleanup - Nevada County style.

The annual event is set for Sept. 29 with registration from 8-9 a.m. The event will be somewhat different this year, according to Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Director Mary Godwin.

Firestone Building Products Co. has joined the chamber, City of Prescott and Nevada County as a sponsor of the event. The teams will meet on the Firestone parking lot for registration and weigh-in and Firestone is providing lunch and entertainment for everyone who participates. Pickup with be from 9-11 a.m.

As always, teams can consist of any number of participants. The chamber will provide bags, gloves and safety vests. T-shirts and other prizes will be provided, in addition to prizes for the teams that pick up the largest amount of trash by weight. Prizes are $200 for first place, $150 for second, $100 for third and $50 for fourth.

Godwin said anyone with a team should contact the chamber ahead of time to register. There is no registration fee, but the process will provide estimates of the number of people wholl be participating.

Godwin said groups that have adopted a highway are encouraged to pick up their section of road that day as well. Those groups may either join the main event or can call in their results. Groups that only call in wont be eligible for prizes.

Pick up of large items for individuals will also be offered that weekend. Godwin said anyone in the county may request that service by calling the chamber at 887-2101 before Sept. 28. Items will be picked up on Saturday. If the crews dont finish their list, theyll continue picking up those large items the following Monday.

The annual clean up is a community-wide event with Firestone only recently joining the effort. Churches, civic clubs, groups, co-workers or just friends are encouraged to form a group and join in the days activities, Godwin said.

Its just an opportunity to help beautify our community, she said. Weve done this for several years.

In 2006, Nevada County was one of 54 counties participating in the state-wide event. more than 20,000 volunteers across the state picked up a total of more than 4.4 million pounds of trash.