By PATRICK ADRIAN
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CLAREMONT — After weeks of continual messaging to stay at home, receiving a city-approved invitation to come outside feels, literally and figuratively, like a breath of fresh air.
Claremont Clean-up Day — which takes place today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. — invites Claremont families, residents and stakeholders to get out of the house and join in a community-wide trash clean-up of the city’s neighborhoods, parks and trails. The event is being hosted by the Ink Factory Clothing Co. on Water Street, with additional support from Red River and the Claremont Department of Public Works.
Jeff Barrett, owner of the Ink Factory Clothing Co., told the Eagle Times that he and his wife Sarah Barrett, first discussed the idea of a community clean-up in January.
“We were talking about there used to be [a Green-up Day] in town and how we missed it,” Sarah said. “So we began talking about how we could reinvigorate it.”
Sarah developed the idea with the support of the Claremont Department of Public Works and Red River, who will provide pizza for community participants and have 22 employees joining the clean-up effort.
“It’s a pretty impressive outpouring,” said Jeremy Clay, assistant director of the Public Works Department. “We are very fortunate to have companies like The Ink Factory and Red River [in our community].”
The event’s date of Friday, May 8, was decided prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Initially, organizers envisioned a larger community event. Barrett said they had originally planned the Clean-up Day as a service-day for Stevens High School students, many of whom would likely still need to fulfil community service hours for their graduation requirement.
As the date approached, Barrett wondered whether they would still be able to pull off the event. Clay, however, thought the timing was actually ideal for a community clean-up.
“This is a unique opportunity because we currently have so many people who are at home and who want to get out of their house to do something,” Clay said.
In addition to seeing an outpouring on posts on social media by parents looking for activities to do with their children outside the house, Clay said there has been a rise in people posting about their own trash-removal initiatives or inquiring about similar opportunities.
“There’s a lot of volunteerism being shared on Facebook that got this [clean-up day] going,” Clay said.
Barrett said that participants will continue to practice social distancing. People will be outdoors and working in different sites across the city. Families will work together. A drive-through service will be at the Ink Factory Clothing Co. for participants to receive their trash bags, event T-shirts and a clean-up site.
One representative at each clean-up site will bring the pizzas.
The Department of Public Works will station a vehicle at the Ink Factory Clothing Co. to collect trash bags. For participants who lack vehicles to transport their collected trash to the vehicle, Public Works will pick up the bags from the site.
Clay said there are approximately 53 targeted clean-up sections. Thirteen are located within the city center, though the majority are in the city’s outskirts. The sites include roadside areas, recreational trails and city parks.
Though today’s event won’t be the type of community gathering that Barrett envisioned prior to the pandemic, Barrett said it will be a good test-run for future community clean-ups.
“My expectation [today] is to see between 50 to 100 people and that it will hopefully have an impact,” Barrett said. “We threw this together pretty quickly. So we hope to do some good and learn some lessons. Hopefully it’s going to become something annual.”
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