We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
hinook Lions to celebrate a nearly century old event in the town. Last Friday morning kindergartners through junior high students joined to do a litter clean-up around Chinook. The result was a half pickup load of trash the students gathered. One side benefit was the students got to experience firsthand what happens when folks don't properly dispose of trash.
A short history of Chinook's town clean-up efforts
A few weeks before the October 21, 1925 official opening/dedication of the new sugar beet plant east of town the Chinook Lions entertained city officials at the club's then weekly meeting. Anticipating a large number of visitors would be in town for the upcoming plant dedication, the Lions Club asked everyone in town to clean up their properties to make a good impression on the visitors that would be in town. The Lions Club agreed to tidy up around the train depot since that was the place most visitors outside the area would first see the town. The clean-up and dedication apparently was a big success as letters from visitors flowed to the local paper congratulating the town and its residents for a great dedication event and an a tidy, attractive town.
Fast forward several decades, and no one has been able to pinpoint this time frame for me exactly, the Sparkle Clean-up annual cleanup began. From a few newspaper reports I've found the clean-up was promoted by the Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce. The "new" clean-up program involved the schools as well as businesses and community clubs. One part of the event was a cookout to feed the volunteers who did the clean-up. While it was hard to get the exact timing of when the Sparkle Clean-up program restarted, it was last held around 2012.
This year the Chinook Lions Club resurrected the clean-up effort with an eye to making it an annual program in the future. The hope is in the future to involve schools and other community groups that could clean-up along the busier highways and streets in town where it's not safe for kids to be picking up trash. Ideally the clean-up would include all property owners who would use the occasion to tidy up around their house or business.
The most recent Sparkle Clean-up campaign
The recent clean-up was first scheduled for last spring. Uncooperative spring weather forecasts and then the crush of end-of-year school activities pushed the event on to fall. The official clean-up day, last Friday, was ideal with cool temps and a small chance of rain. Each teacher had bags for their students to use during the pickup and each student was outfitted with a pair of disposable gloves. Getting those disposable gloves on the younger students was a bit of a challenge according to the teachers.
Each class left the school with an assigned area, shown on a map in hand by their teacher, showing where they would be cleaning. The younger kids were assigned smaller areas closer to the school and the junior high students had larger and busier areas. As the students left Meadowlark there were Lions club members, in their gold vests, urging the kids on. The kids were excited.
After about an hour the classes began to return for scheduled lunches. Asked "what was the most weird thing you found?" the students responded with enthusiasm. There was everything from a shirt and a sock to metal pipes, c-clips and lots of cigarette butts. Almost every class commented about the large number of cigarette butts they found. One proud Meadowlark student showed a new padlock he found, noting, "It was open when I found it but someone has locked it." Too bad the key wasn't found nearby. Each class deposited its garbage bag of litter near the school entrance before they headed in to wash hands for lunch.
The cost of the event was underwritten by several local businesses. Each student got a coupon for an ice cream cone. Students also received a commemorative wrist band with the name and date of the event. Businesses that provided financial support or materials for the litter pick-up included: the Grand Villa; Treasure State Title; Bear Paw Credit Union; First Bank of Montana; Finley's Food Farm; Ace Hardware; the Blaine County Journal; The Creamery and the Chinook Lions.
Hopefully an expanded version of the new Sparkle Clean-up program will be in place for next year. The Chinook Lions Club thanks all those who donated to support the effort, the teachers and students who did the clean-up, school staff who helped schedule the event and other volunteers who helped make the event a successful one.
