In celebration of Earth Day Saturday morning, the Hobart Parks Department hosted its annual Hobart Community Clean Up Day to spruce up the beautiful parks and show the Earth that the City of Hobart is taking every step to ensure a clean future.
Families from all over Hobart were welcomed to the annual Clean Up Day where they could help clean up the parks and lakefront and celebrate Earth Day in the most effective and enduring way.
“We started the Clean Up Day four years ago so everyone in the community could come together for Earth Day,” said John Mitchell, Superintendent for the Hobart Parks Department. “We’re going to have groups picking up garbage that is left in the parks and re-mulching the playgrounds to get the parks ready for the spring and summer months.”
Volunteers arrived at Festival Park where they were then split up into different groups, given their tasks for the day, and were given the necessary supplies, like trash bags, shovels, wheelbarrows, and gloves.
Employees of the Parks Department took each group to their designated location: one group stayed at Festival Park to pick up trash around the beautiful lakefront, another travelled to City Ball Park a few miles away, and for the people who were up for a hike, a group was sent to the bike path that runs from Wisconsin to Liverpool to pick up trash.
“Picking up garbage in the parks is a constant thing for us,” Mitchell explained. “Sometimes it’s trash that blows in from somewhere else, but usually it’s someone who doesn’t bother throwing their trash away in a garbage can that’s ten feet away. But it works out because people really have a lot of fun with this event.”
Volunteers must have a good time at the Clean Up Day because many make this an annual tradition on Earth Day. Tom Markovich of Hobart has been volunteering for the Community Clean Up Day for the past four years and for him, it’s an important way to give back to a community he loves.
“We take advantage of the parks here in Hobart because they’re so beautiful and they have so many fun events here,” Markovich said. “It’s a way to give back to the community, meet new people, and make the parks look good for the summer.”
When Niki Zybat of Hobart woke up this morning, her daughter Violet asked what they as a family could do for Earth Day. When Zybat recommended they go to the Community Clean Up Day, Violet was immediately on board and ready to do everything she could to make her community and the Earth clean.
“We pick up trash whenever we come to the parks, but it’s really nice to have my children involved with the whole group effort so they can see the importance of taking care of our parks, our city, and our Earth,” Zybat said.
To thank them for their hard work, the Parks Department served a delicious lunch of hot dogs and brats for the volunteers, but really there was no thank you necessary. The volunteers who came together for the Community Clean Up Day came for one reason; because they care about their city and they care about the Earth.
“Today is a perfect example of the community coming together to do something positive, especially for Earth Day,” said Nikki Lopez, Events Director for the City of Hobart. “Everyone coming out and pitching in really makes the event the best that it can be.”
For more information about the Hobart Parks Department, go to www.cityofhobart.org.
