New initiative to clean up town

Staff with the town’s Department of Recreation, Culture and Parks were giving the Clean and Green concept a trial run recently, tackling some of the garbage around one of the town’s playgrounds. A town-wide event is being held April 19 to 25 to clean up parks and trails. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg is upping the ante on its clean-up efforts in conjunction with Earth Week.

Called Clean and Green Tillsonburg Earth Week, the town is inviting residents, families, schools, businesses, and community groups to help clean up the town’s green spaces.

The new event builds on the success of the trail clean-up last year. Staff worked with the Parks, Beautification and Cemeteries Committee to expand the initiative town-wide for Earth Week. This is the first coordinated town-wide garbage pick-up in recent memory.

“We saw real momentum last year,” said Adam Kannawin, Manager of Parks and Facilities. “It made sense to grow the event and involve even more of the community.”

Then, when there was a noticeable increase in litter after the winter thaw, it reinforced the need for an event such as Clean and Green. If the event goes well, town staff may consider making it an annual tradition.

“Our community takes pride in its appearance,” Kannawin said. “This is a chance to really reflect that.”

Groups of five to 30 people are invited to choose a location and complete the clean-up at any time during the week of April 19 to 25. Groups can be families, friends, classrooms, sports teams, clubs, workplaces or neighbourhood groups. The town is encouraging the teams to choose a fun name for the event. Free gloves and garbage bags will be available for the event at the customer service centre, Tillsonburg Community Centre, and Annandale National Historic Site during each entity's business hours.

Teams are asked to register on the website at www.tillsonburg.ca/clean-green and claim a site as their own during registration. A full list of locations is on the website. Locations with a stroke through them have already been claimed. It’s hoped all 36 sites will be claimed.

““Our goal is for this to grow each year,” Kannawin said. “We want people to feel ownership over the spaces they use every day.”

All teams that register and submit their cleanup results will have their team’s name entered in a prize draw. The grand prize is a private skate or swim with a pizza party for the entire team. Several additional prizes will also be awarded to participating teams through the draw.

As a part of the event, the town is adding the Great Gnome Hunt as an added feature. Six garden gnomes will be hidden on the town’s public land. Anyone who finds one can bring it to the customer service centre and exchange it for a garden starter kit. A gnome counter on the town’s Facebook page will track how many gnomes have been found.

The gnome hunt was added to encourage young families to take part in the event.

Asked if there is a story about the origin of the gnomes, Andrea Greenway, Director of Recreation, Culture and Parks, said, ““Not officially—but I do have a soft spot for gnomes, so it was an easy idea to get behind.”

Promoting the concept during the March 23 council meeting, Mayor Deb Gilvesy said, “I hope our town can come together to help clean our town. It is really disheartening to see the garbage in the ravines and along the roadsides. A lot of the items we see are coffee cups, drink cups, food containers - those are recyclable items. It doesn’t cost anything to get rid of them, they can go in your blue box.”