Spring Cleanup 2022 Coming Soon – April 23

Neighbourhood Spring Clean-Up 2022 is Coming!

Time to limber-up, and to get ready to stoop, scoop, lunge, and squat our way to a cleaner community. What a great way to get some exercise and to help make our neighbourhood beautiful at the same time.

Planning is underway for Champlain Park to host the return of the “Cleaning the Capital Program”.

The date for the event is being planned for April 23rd, with a rain date of April 30th, so mark your calendars!

More details for Champlain Park’s activity will follow in the coming days, but if you want to learn more about the overall program please visit: https://ottawa.ca/en/living-ottawa/environment-conservation-and-climate/community-environmental-and-beautification-programs/cleaning-capital-program#background-information

In the meantime, while we await the return of this community-wide program, everyone is encouraged to do their part, at their own pace, in cleaning-up their piece of our little oasis here in the heart of Ottawa. If you see some trash around your home or on your street, just pick it up and dispose of it in your regularly scheduled garbage collection, or in the public bins.

So stay tuned, and we’ll get you more information soon about our rendition of Ottawa’s “Cleaning the Capital Program”.

Spring Cleanup Results

Andrea Murphy writes on Twitter:
Fruits of the @ChamplainPark spring cleanup today. Thanks to all who helped out. Strangest thing found in the woods was an old leather suitcase.

Fruits of the @ChamplainPark spring cleanup today. Thanks to all who helped out. Strangest thing found in the woods was an old leather suitcase. pic.twitter.com/ePKtRedWOy

— Andrea Murphy (@AndreaMurphy12) April 28, 2019

Actually, if you think about it, that’s likely a civil servant briefcase, possibly accidentally dropped by one of our neighbours from Tunney’s Pasture. It was “grossly mouldy” inside, so no worry about leaked documents.

Spring Cleanup Change – April 28

Due to the rain and generally miserable weather on Saturday, and fieldhouse scheduling conflicts, the Spring Cleanup has been moved to Sunday April 28. Meet at the fieldhouse at noon (not 10). See https://champlainpark.org/2019/04/19/spring-cleanup-2019/ for the rest of the details.

Spring Cleanup 2019

LIFE’S MESSY.

April 27 28 WE CLEAN IT UP.

Champlain Park is looking for volunteers for our annual Spring Cleanup. The snow has gone and debris accumulated over a long winter has started to appear. Now’s the time to get it! Later, spring growth makes us pull out more grass than trash, and we wouldn’t want to do that.

The cleanup, part of the City’s Cleaning the Capital campaign, is a chance for neighbours of all ages – kids, teens, and adults – to get together, say hello, and help spruce up the neighbourhood.

Due to rain on Saturday and fieldhouse scheduling, we’ll meet at the fieldhouse on Sunday, April 28 at 12 noon. Juice, coffee, and cookies will be served. There is a map so that people can choose an area to work on. We’ll wrap up in a couple of hours.

The designated cleanup areas are the south side of Amanda above the transitway; the boulevard on Northwestern and the path at its north end; and along the fence on Patricia and Pontiac and in the Champlain Woods between the fence and the parkway. It also includes the beach area along the river at the foot of Carleton, and any other public spaces you think could use some help.

We recommend wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts, appropriate footwear and gloves. The City will provide garbage bags.

If you have any questions or suggestions, call Andrea Murphy or Ian Reid at 613-715-9504.

For posts about Spring Cleanups, see https://champlainpark.org/category/community-news/spring-cleanup/

Spring Cleanup 2018 – May 12

As described in https://champlainpark.org/spring-cleanup/ this Saturday (or Sunday) is the Spring Cleanup day. If you find anything interesting, send in a photo!

[Bow Tie look-alike found in Spring Cleanup 2016]

Spring Cleanup 2017 – April 29

LIFE’S MESSY.

APRIL 29 WE CLEAN IT UP.

Champlain Park is looking for volunteers for our annual Spring Cleanup. The snow is melting extra fast, and trash accumulated over a long winter has started to appear.

We’ll meet at the fieldhouse on Saturday, April 29 at 10 a.m. Juice, coffee, and cookies will be served. There is a map so that people can choose an area to work on. We’ll wrap up by noon. In case of rain, we’ll meet instead on Sunday, April 30.

The designated cleanup areas are the south side of Premier above the transitway; the boulevard on Northwestern and the path at its north end; and along the fence on Patricia and Pontiac and in the NCC forest between the fence and the parkway. It can also include the area along the river at the foot of Carleton, or any other public spaces you think could use some help.

We recommend wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts, appropriate footwear and gloves. The City will provide garbage bags.

If you have any questions or suggestions, call Andrea Murphy or Ian Reid at 613-715-9504.

Andrea has tweeted a cleanup summary and a rusty treasure photo at https://twitter.com/AndreaMurphy12/status/858409677532606464

Spring Cleanup 2016 Summary

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
20160423_100156_AS_6587 Signing up

Fridge Magnet

Sticker

Campaign Map with Post-it™ notes claiming work areas
20160423_112401_AS_6602 Campaign Map

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.
20160423_101306_AS_6588 A rare Brass Allen Wrench

On the opposite corner of the neighbourhood on Patricia, I found this magnifying glass keychain.
20160423_103437_AS_6589 Magnifying Glass

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.
20160423_105324_AS_6592 One Glove of Many

A blue golf ball stands out on a sunny day (great weather today for working outside).
20160423_105814_AS_6593 Blue Golf Ball

A piece of tile. Wonder where it came from.
20160423_105938_AS_6594 Tile Fragment

This assortment of garbage is brought to you by the letter O. Made of foam.
20160423_110409_AS_6595 Foam Letter O

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.
20160423_110504_AS_6596 Lesson on Cooking with Mud

I was surprised to see this bow tie. A closer look reveals that it is a hair ribbon accessory.
20160423_110739_AS_6598 Bow Tie Hair Ribbon

One of the lighters I found. Other people were finding them too.
20160423_111043_AS_6599 Cigaratte Lighter

Another team found an antique car leaf spring in the forest. It seems to have been halved with a cutting torch.
20160423_112448_AS_6603 Car Leaf Spring

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!
20160423_120457_AS_6610 Our Garbage Pile

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

Spring Cleanup 2016 – April 23 Reminder

Just a reminder that the Spring Cleanup is this weekend. Additionally, the NCC forest is now officially part of the cleanup area.

LIFE’S MESSY.

APRIL 23 WE CLEAN IT UP.

Champlain Park is looking for volunteers for our annual Spring Cleanup. The snow is finally melting, and trash accumulated over a long winter has started to appear.

We’ll meet at the fieldhouse on Saturday, April 23 at 10 a.m. Juice, coffee, and cookies will be served. There is a map so that people can choose an area to work on. We’ll wrap up by noon. In case of rain, we’ll meet instead on Sunday, April 24.

We recommend wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts, appropriate footwear and gloves. The City will provide garbage bags.

If you have any questions or suggestions, call Andrea Murphy or Ian Reid at 613-715-9504.

Spring Cleanup 2016 – April 23

LIFE’S MESSY.

APRIL 23 WE CLEAN IT UP.

Champlain Park is looking for volunteers for our annual Spring Cleanup. The snow is finally melting, and trash accumulated over a long winter has started to appear.

We recommend wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts, appropriate footwear and gloves. The City will provide garbage bags.

If you have any questions or suggestions, call Andrea Murphy or Ian Reid at 613-715-9504.

Spring Cleanup Photo Essay

I went to the Spring Cleanup today and took some photos…

First, we met up at the fieldhouse, with Debra dressed up as the Spring greeter:

Debra’s hat:

Coffee, cookies and other refreshments awaited:

On the assignment map I slapped down a post-it note to claim Pontiac street from Patricia on eastwards. Of course, being next to the school and at a secluded corner, there was lots of litter, starting with zillions of cigarette butts.

There were also dumped piles of construction debris, next to a car with someone sleeping in it.

Ironically, a few metres away was a sign about not littering.

Typical of the school area were candy wrappers and plastic bottles of cheap brandy (I found two, other people in other areas found more, and a passing dog walker reported finding similar stuff (and cleaning it up) on their daily expedition). I also found some blue earbuds, an eye safety visor, a large plastic flower pot, broken glass bottles of assorted types, a pile of hair (apparently it doesn’t biodegrade quickly), a downed telephone line, and assorted bits of paper. There’s lots more garbage remaining in the woods on the other side of the fence, since I only had time to do the road side up to the gate to the forest path.

After a couple of hours out in the nice cool sunny weather, everyone brought their garbage bags back to the fieldhouse. Each one contains debris from a block or two of street.

I stuck around for a bit of snacking and chatting at the fieldhouse, and then it was time to go home. Thanks go to Andrea and Ian for organizing it.