With summer finally here, and provincial Communities in Bloom judges coming to town, one local group has decided to do its part to improve Taber’s chances.
Green and Clean Taber is holding a second town clean-up next Tuesday, from 6-8 p.m.
“I think we decided on the downtown core,” said Patti Lund, of where the group is going to begin, as she added Confederation Park and the area surrounding the community centre will also get a going over, among others. “We may go across the highway to the 7-11 area and do that area if we have enough manpower.”
Communities in Bloom judges will be in town July 21, so Lund is hoping Taberites jump on board with the clean-up effort, the first of which attracted 60 volunteers.
Next week, the group will be tasked with picking up litter, which she said quickly accumulates in some areas of town, as was evident after the last clean-up.
“We had a flatdeck come in afterwards,” she said of the effort required to haul all the trash away.
It’s little wonder what the group members pick up, according to Dan McMurdo,
“Last time we had everything from toilets in the back alleys and sinks, a barbecue and a stove — it was a little bit of everything.”
According to Lund, downtown can always use a little extra TLC.
“At Taber square last time, there were 20, five-gallon buckets of sand we collected,” as she added volunteers got in with shovels and brooms until the area was spic and span.
It’s not the sand that discourages Lund the most, it is the disregard people have for their own community in terms of garbage that she finds frustrating.
“There are garbage containers everywhere, and it seems like people can’t go three steps to put it in there.”
McMurdo shares those sentiments.
“I pick up garbage everywhere I walk, and that becomes frustrating.”
Green and Clean, which just started up this spring, came about after Lund, who lives just south of Taber, noticed an awful lot of garbage in the ditches of the road that leads out to her home. McMurdo added a group got together, did some brainstorming and when it was all said and done, five core members started Green and Clean.
Lund added the town and the M.D. of Taber have both been supportive, and said she hopes people come out and do their part next week for the clean-up.
In the future, McMurdo added Green and Clean would like to expand its scope of work.
“We have some other ideas for the future but right now, we want to focus on the clean-up.”
He said the group is wanting to look at other communities for ideas to improve Taber, one of which may include another kick at the can in terms of revitalizing downtown.