July 7, 11th Annual National Cherry Festival River Cleanup
This was a project with good news and bad news.
1. It rained the night before and the river was high.
2. The takeout parking lot was closed, so we had to park at the Holiday Inn.
3. Several of us were late and didn't get in the photo.
4. One went to the wrong location and missed the shuttle.
5. Our shuttle bus, provided by Paddle For Pints, was on time
6. It was windy, so the GT Bay was not safe to paddle a canoe on.
7. We had 2 small USCG kids and their mom paddling with us.
8. Glenn cut himself (again).
9. A fish was rotting right where we had to unload our first load of trash.
10. The GT Bay was exceptional high, so the river was very slow.
11. There was almost no trash in the river compared to previous years.
11a. Our 5 BRCS trash cans along the river were packed and overflowing
which explains the lack of trash in the river. We removed six 55 gallon bags
of trash from them on Sunday.
12. The project took only 2 hours and the wind held off until almost the end.
13. The City (Thanks Dave Green) disposed of the small amount of trash.
14. A Street Outreach gal helped us by walking the shore.
15. Some new people showed up to work with us.
16. I lost my camera, which turned up under a snack in my dry bag, hence no photos.
17. Steve took some nice ones for us.
18. The kids had fun and no one was seriously injured.
Thanks to the National Cherry Festival and the Great Lakes Commission for
their continuing support and to our volunteers for their hard work and enthusiasm.
We are FINALLY making a difference on the Downtown section.
Submitted by Norm Fred