Just following up on the Spring Cleanup…

We had a good turnout this year, about 20 people and families signed in and I heard that a team of around 4 people sponsored by Glad came from Wakefield (saw them leaving at the end in their yellow shirts). Glad also provided the garbage bags, looks like we had about the right amount. The same can’t be said for the home baked cookies, which ran out before the baker could have one!

Andrea and Ian seemed to have everything in hand, even down to fridge magnets from the city’s “Tim Hortons Cleaning the Capital” program, beverages for the volunteers, a campaign map and so on. Thanks for setting it up and staffing mission control!

Signing Up and Getting Supplies

Fridge Magnet

Sticker

Campaign Map with Post-it™ notes claiming work areas

I found lots of candy wrappers, plastic cups, cigarette packs, lighters, cigarette butts, plastic bags, beverage cans, plastic water bottles and such things, mostly near the woods at the school. Weirdly, no glass bottles and just one glass fragment. But I also found a few noteworthy items:

First off, an unusual brass Allen Wrench. Usually they’re silver steel. This was in an area on Pontiac with noticable contractor debris, such as electrical wire insulation strippings.

On the opposite corner of the neighbourhood on Patricia, I found this magnifying glass keychain.

Getting closer to the school area on Patricia, and the woods, here’s yet another glove. Seems to be designed for cartoon characters, with only four fingers.

A blue golf ball stands out on a sunny day (great weather today for working outside).

A piece of tile. Wonder where it came from.

This assortment of garbage is brought to you by the letter O. Made of foam.

Close to a school gate is the remains of a lesson on cooking with mud. The felt marker beside the pot is for taking notes? I left this behind since it didn’t seem to be garbage.

I was surprised to see this bow tie. A closer look reveals that it is a hair ribbon accessory.

One of the lighters I found. Other people were finding them too.

Another team found an antique car leaf spring in the forest. It seems to have been halved with a cutting torch.

Ian Reid with the mysterious, helpful people from planet GLAD (via Wakefield). Photo and description courtesy of Andrea Murphy.

The final result of all this work is an even larger pile of garbage. Just think how many candy wrappers are there!

Thanks everyone for pitching in and cleaning up.

If you have stories or photos of interesting items, I can add them to this post. Send them to champlainpark@hotmail.ca or tweet them to @ChamplainPark.

– Alex