Scores of volunteers scoured a Little Rock park and nearby public lands for trash Saturday, kicking off a statewide cleanup expected to involve thousands of Arkansans this fall.
This year's Great Arkansas Cleanup launched with volunteers combing Murray Park and surrounding areas. Teams searched for litter on trails, parking lots and green spaces. Kayakers armed with trash grabbers and garbage bags pulled debris from the banks of the Arkansas River.
Among the day's finds were a discarded utility marker, a missing ID and a lost dog.
"Today actually kicks off the entire cleanup season for the entire state of Arkansas," said Colbie Jones, director of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission.
For more than 20 years, the Great Arkansas Cleanup has motivated Arkansans to organize trash gathering events in their communities. The commission, a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, encourages volunteers to sign up for these events as groups or individuals. This year's statewide cleanup will run from Sept. 10 to Oct. 31.
The commission hosted the Murray Park event in collaboration with Keep Little Rock Beautiful and Keep North Little Rock Beautiful. Around 70 people pre-registered for the event, according to organizers.
Along with the cleanup, organizers scheduled live music and invited vendors and food trucks to set up in Murray Park. The event also featured door prizes including a "state park weekend getaway" and a "sunset kayak cruise."
Janet Holmes, of Cabot, brought three of her grandchildren and a friend to join the Murray Park cleanup.
"The girls have been real excited about finding things," said Holmes.
"We found a nickel," said Julie Haynes, 8, one of Holmes' granddaughters from Arkadelphia.
"I don't know I've ever been so excited about trash," chimed in Suzanne Haynes, 10, also of Arkadelphia.
At least one group of volunteers located a missing pet during their search for litter.
Returning from the field with a bag of trash, Stephanie Lopez, a Keep Little Rock Beautiful board member, said she and Derek Shelton, another board member, had helped find a lost dog.
Some volunteers ventured further from the park to seek more trash. Debbie Johnson, who said it was her first time volunteering at the Murray Park event, planned to extend her search to the Big Dam Bridge.
The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission has already seen a record level of support for this year's statewide cleanup. Volunteers pre-registered roughly 110 events before the season began, according to Jones.
"That supersedes all of last year combined," said Robyn Taylor, volunteer program manager for the commission. "We're blown away. We've never had this much of an impact this early on."
Last year, 13,637 Arkansans removed 386 tons of litter from around the state. Organizers hosted 473 cleanups in 2021, twice the number of events held the year before during the Great Arkansas Cleanup and the Great American Cleanup in Arkansas, an annual spring cleanup, according to a news release from the commission.
Commission members attributed the recent increase in support largely to community outreach efforts.
"We've been traveling a lot more. We've been sending out letters to every mayor in the state, county judges, school counselors. Just encouraging them to get their communities involved," said Jones.
With concern over the threat of covid-19 abating, volunteers have also been more receptive to larger cleanup events, according to Norm Berner of Keep Little Rock Beautiful.
The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission offers cleanup supplies to volunteers including disposable gloves, cotton gloves and fluorescent safety vests. The commission also provides videos and promotional materials to help groups organize cleanups and recruit volunteers.
For more information on the Great Arkansas Cleanup visit the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission website at https://keeparkansasbeautiful.com/.
