Additional Cleanup Zones
Lena Givens ParkRainbow Lake Land TrustJames BoulevardEdwards Point RoadTimberlinks Drive
On Saturday, May 7, the town of Signal Mountain and the Signal Mountain Lions Club are co-hosting the first multi-organizational trash pickup day the town has seen in 18 years. The event, called “Sparkle Day,” gives participants a chance to beautify the community by collecting litter from city streets and byways.
“This was something that myself and Mayor [Dick] Gee had wanted to bring back because it is a participation event that anyone can participate in,” said Signal Mountain Councilman Bob Spalding.
Participants will meet at Althaus Park at 9 a.m., where they will be given free trash bags and split into groups to tackle a variety of “cleanup zones” such as Taft Highway, Shackleford Ridge Road and Shoal Creek. As more volunteers arrive, more zones will be added to the assignment list. The cleanup effort will continue until 2 p.m. and will be followed by a celebration at Althaus Park.
While Spalding estimated that 150 people will come out to support the cleanup effort, he also encouraged those unwilling or unable to attend to form street teams to clean up their own neighborhoods.
“Anyone who feels like there’s an issue associated with their own neighborhood can walk down their driveway, look to the left and the right and see if there’s any trash that they could help clean up,” Spalding said. “So it’s going to be one of those rare events where the whole community can get involved.”
Sparkle Day has a significant amount of history behind it. The eco-friendly event was started in the 1970s by a Realtor named John Rankin, but it died in 1998 after leadership of the project changed hands.
Spalding, who participated in the last Sparkle Day 18 years ago, hopes to once again make it an annual event, and is currently working with Gee to create a Citizen Advisory Board Beautification Committee to help make that dream a reality.
Aside from fun and the opportunity to connect with the community, Spalding hopes the event will bring awareness to the litter problem on Signal Mountain, leading people to report those who litter or at least take pride in not littering in the first place.
“I think you need a kickoff point, and this is the kickoff point,” Spalding said. “Hopefully, we’ll make a big dent in the trash problem up on Signal.”